


180 days of my significant annoyance

by fivekrystalpetals



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Awkward Conversations, Beginnings, Between The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus) and The Hidden Oracle (Trials of Apollo), F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Nico di Angelo & Will Solace Friendship, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace are Dorks, Post-The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus), Three Days in the Infirmary (Percy Jackson)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-01-27 00:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21382963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fivekrystalpetals/pseuds/fivekrystalpetals
Summary: A demigod’s life is always full of misfortunes. Especially, if you are a child of Hades. But I am going to try. At the very least, I am not like before. I have a reason to live now; for someone who loves me unconditionally, for someone who I am ready to protect with my life. And I am going to make it more than 180 days. 180 days and counting...with my significant annoyance.The chain of events after the battle with Gaea till the arrival of Apollo as a mortal to Camp Half Blood from Nico di Angelo's first person narrative
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Miranda Gardiner/Sherman Yang, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Paul Blofis/Sally Jackson
Comments: 43
Kudos: 134





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ****IMPORTANT****  
I do not consent for my work be hosted by any third party site or app. This piece of fanfiction '180 days of my significant annoyance' has been posted ONLY in archiveofourown.org under the pseud fivekrystalpetals.
> 
> Please note that this is for purely entertainment purposes, and NOT for any monetary gain. This means that you, as the reader, DO NOT have to pay to read this fanfic.
> 
> Also, this work is strictly my intellectual property. If you find this fanfic on any other app or site or under any other name, in part or in whole, it has been reposted without my permission, so kindly bring it to my notice. Thank you.

I hate hospitals. _Seriously_.

When I was smaller (I mean, before the start of all the drama about Greek mythology and being a demigod and all, when I was a small naïve boy in the 1940’s), my mother dragged me to a dentist once. I had a bad tooth and it needed to be pulled out. The experience I had was so disgusting that after 70 plus years, I still get nightmares.

So, when I was locked up for three days in the infirmary, (courtesy of Dr. Will Solace, MBBS, MD, and a couple of other degrees—none of which he has, but pretends as though he does) I couldn’t wait to get out.

The camp infirmary was no better than your regular hospital. It had everything—the bad hospital smell, the uncomfortable beds (maybe, they specifically order for stiff cots which break your spine if you slept on them for more than an hour), some machines I worried would come up alive and swallow me whole, and of course, the meddling medics.

I lay in a large bed in one corner of the infirmary, muffled up in sheets and propped up on IV. Will Solace and his siblings would come from time to time to check on me. I knew it was their duty, but all the attention made me really uncomfortable. Especially, when Will would come by.

I tensed against the proximity when he would bend over me to check my pulse or place his palm against my forehead, his eyebrows scrunched in concentration. Will studies the anatomy and vital signs of human body the same way as I search the graves of the dead. I have no idea how far his abilities extend in this kind of healing arts. I could only pray that he should not be able to read my mind that way. For _that_ would be really awkward.

The worst part of my stay at the infirmary was the medicine they forced me to take. Will insisted it would cleanse the darkness out of my body, but it smelled as bad as it looked.

When Will handed me the paper cup with a dark liquid, I started to whine like a kindergartner on the first day of school.

“Stop whining, Nico,” he scolded. “You need to take the medicine to regain your health. Chiron and I spent the whole of last night preparing this concoction, _just_ for you.”

He knew very well how to emotional blackmail me. “But, it smells like...ugh!” I moved the cup away from my nose. “Are you sure this is a medicine and not some sort of poison?”

“Well, you are the only patient here going in and out of a shadow coma. This situation is new for us, even for Chiron. So while you drink that liquid, I’ll sit over here and pray it shouldn’t kill you.”

I had to roll my eyes at his sarcasm. “That’s...that’s very comforting to hear.”

He raised his eyes heavenwards, probably asking his dad Apollo what he had ever done to deserve such a stubborn patient.

I cursed him internally, pinched my nose, swigged down the medicine and retched so hard that it took me everything to stop myself from throwing up directly on his face. Even my taste buds stirred from their coma phase to rebel against the medicine. Soon the bitter taste subsided and a warm feeling filled my stomach.

Will leaned forward, his usual medical curiosity written large over his face. “How do you feel now? Any better?”

“Okay, I guess.” I took a deep breath, and surprisingly my insides didn’t hurt as much as before. “At least, I did not die immediately.”

“That’s good news, Nico.” He patted my shoulder. “Okay then, get some rest. I’ll wake you up for dinner.”

That night, I wreaked havoc on everyone present in the infirmary. Not intentionally, of course.

A girl of about eleven or twelve, with her ginger hair dyed bright yellow, had come to check on me after dinner. I had wished Will would come by. But my bedside attendant, Kayla, informed me that he was stuck with another patient with a serious injury. So, there was nothing for me to do except close my eyes and go to sleep. That was the last thing I remember before I slipped into another bout of nightmare.

_I am in Tartarus, standing helplessly before the Doors of Death. I know it is hopeless...the monsters are so many and so powerful that how many even I kill, they don’t seem to reduce in number. I am all alone. I am losing my strength. It is only a matter of time till I get killed. Will anyone back in the living world remember me if I die here? And then, something hits me and I black out._

I woke up, screaming. I must have been screaming for some time now, because a crowd of campers was gathered around me. Someone was holding me down. At last, I took in the surroundings and calmed down. _I am not in Tartarus._

Apparently, I had woken up everyone in the middle of their sleep. The campers were standing around me in their pajamas, groggy, their hair standing up in all directions. I sat up on my bed, murmuring, “I am sorry, I am sorry.”

Will waved his hand and dispersed the crowd. _Oh, so Will was holding me down? _Finally, it was only me and him in the room.

“What happened?” I asked softly. Will looked like he was about to drop. “How did so many people gather around me?”

“I think you were having a terrible nightmare.” His eyes were rimmed red with worry and drooped as though he hadn’t slept in days. “Your powers started to react and Ellis, who was sleeping on a nearby cot, came running downstairs and woke up all of us. When we came up, waves of darkness were coming off your body. You were screaming and your whole body broke into a cold sweat. I gave you a mild sedative to calm you down.”

I felt ashamed of myself. “I am sorry,” I said again. “I didn’t mean to create a scene.”

Will shook his head and smiled. Instantly, I felt better. He had a smile which could light up a room. “Nico, you don’t have to be sorry for this. You have gone through a lot that it’s only natural your mind is so distressed. Now that you are here, we can do everything to heal you and bring you back to normal.”

_Normal? What could be normal for me?_ “Do you want to talk about your nightmare?”

I hesitated for a moment, but then decided to tell him. “I went through Tartarus, looking for the Doors of Death. My mind replayed some scenes from there. Thanks, but I don’t think I want to speak about it now. It’s...it’s too terrifying. I am fine now, Solace. Moreover, you need to sleep too.”

He nodded and patted my hand. I almost flinched from the contact. “Okay, then. I’ll be downstairs; let me know if you need anything.”

I watched as he got up to leave. A sharp pain pricked my heart and I could feel tears building up in my throat. I wanted him to leave immediately. I never cry in front of anyone. On the other hand, I wanted him to stay. I was frightened to sleep in this big room by myself.

Will seemed to sense my fear for he stopped at the door. “What is it, Nico? Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I lied. “Yeah, I am fine. I am fine, I will be fine...” I kept repeating more to myself, than to him. I glanced up to find Will standing by my bedside. “Go away, Solace. I’m okay.”

But he didn’t budge. I did not know when I had started to cry. Will gently pressed me to his chest. A part of me wanted to hug him back, but my conscious self struggled to release from his hug. I tried to push him away, kicked him in the shin, cursed at him and shouted to let go of me. But he didn’t.

Soon, I was drowning in my tears. I instinctively clutched the front of his shirt, burying my head in his shoulders and sank down to the floor, pulling him down along with me. He held me and patted my back gently.

It felt like forever when I had finally stopped crying. Even then, violent sobs racked my frame.

“Do you want to talk to me, Nico?”

I couldn’t bring myself to break the echo of his gentle voice in the room, so I simply shook my head in his shoulder.

“Do you want me to leave?” 

I shook my head again.

“Do you want me to stop hugging you?” 

I tried to smile through my tears, but it hurt. I shook my head for a third time.

I kept holding on to him. His warmth cocooned around me like a cozy pillow. For the first time in my restless life, I hoped to feel safe_._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, memories are all we have of our loved ones and it is always nice to listen to more of them, from others’ point of view. I felt my heart slowly coming to peace with whatever had happened. Maybe, someday, someone will love me for the good as well as the bad in me, and trust me without a second thought. That someone is definitely not Percy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I just wanted to give Percy and Nico a proper finale before moving on to our favorite couple. This chapter is a bit long and contains a lot of Nico's monologues. However, I promise the next to next chapters will contain more of Solangelo. Happy reading!

It was one of these days that my most dreaded topic came up again.

It was a typical August morning, cloudy and morose. I really didn’t want to get up from my comfortable bed. But my brain had other ideas. As soon as it saw my eyes had slit open, it shouted at me (something it had been doing for the past two days, by the way): _You wailed like a baby in front of HIM!_

And, just the thought of it made me cover myself with the blanket and bury my face into my pillow. It had been three days since I checked out from the camp infirmary. Till now, I hadn’t built up the courage to face Will Solace again. I didn’t remember what happened that night after I had stopped crying. The next morning, I had woken up in my infirmary bed. _Had he tucked me into the bed? Holy Styx, this is so embarrassing._

I told myself not to overthink things and had just dropped my legs off the bed to get up, when my brain whispered in a conspiratorial voice: _You might have made a huge wet patch of tears and drool on his shirt. _Immediately, I curled back into my bed as a mortified burrito of Nico di Angelo.

Finally, I decided it would be best for me to get up and take a long, nice shower— something I had not done for days together. If no one came close to me, I couldn’t blame them. I smelled like a gutter in Erebos. And my hair... the lesser said, the better.

When I entered the shower, my hands went into autopilot which gave me a lot of time to have a conversation with myself.

_I can’t avoid seeing him forever if I am gonna stay in the camp. Should I run away? Good idea! I should just pack up and leave for the Lotus Hotel and reappear after another 70 years. No, Nico, we have already decided...running away isn’t an option. Nooo! Then what? Should I apologize? Sorry for wetting your doctor’s green shirt? Oh, gods—that sounds so wrong...no, no, um...I didn’t know why I cried like that, I usually don’t...OUCH! OUCH!_

I yelped as I jumped out of the shower. _Stupid Nico! _The scalding water almost burnt my skin. Cursing, I slipped on a black shirt and jeans and went out to have breakfast.

I couldn’t find Jason at his table. He had probably already finished his breakfast or maybe, he was hanging out with Piper. For breakfast, there were no rules that you needed to sit only at your assigned tables. For me, however, the rules didn’t matter—I had only my table to sit at.

I looked around for any familiar faces. Everyone was laughing and joking with their friends. I considered skipping breakfast rather than sitting alone at my table but my stupid stomach grumbled loudly in protest. I sighed and took my plate.

I had pancakes for breakfast. See, I had started to eat healthy after a long lecture from my doctor about vitamins and bone health and whatnot. I would rather hide myself in the giants’ bronze jar than hearing to his nutritional rant again. I stuffed one in my mouth and washed it down with a glass of milk.

I glanced from the corner of my eyes toward the Cabin 7 bench. Only two young kids were sitting there. _Is he still at the infirmary? Did he have his breakfast? _I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed on not seeing him. I must have been daydreaming and absentmindedly eating for I didn’t even notice when Percy had sat down in front of me. I jumped at the sound of his voice.

“Hey, sorry, did I startle you?”

I shook my head in confusion. _Why is he sitting at my table? _“No, I didn’t see you. I was, I don’t know, thinking something...? What is it? Why are you here?”

I winced internally at the tone of my voice. My people skills were still practically non-existent. But Percy ignored it. Or, he had probably got used to it. I always talked to him like that. Maybe, when Bianca was around and I was that excited kid obsessed with Mythomagic, I looked up to him and treated him nicely. That seemed so many million years ago.

Percy nibbled at the edge of his sandwich. “I saw you sitting all alone. Annabeth is not here and I couldn’t find anyone else, so I thought of joining you. Is it—?”

_A problem? _I shook my head. Of course, if others were here, he would never choose to sit with me. I tried to push out the bitter thought from my mind and find some neutral topic. “Annabeth is not here?”

“Yeah, she went home yesterday. She told me she is going to Boston. To meet her cousin and uncle, I think.” He exhaled deeply as though he missed her not having seen her for one day. One part of me cringed at his lovesickness. The other part wondered how it would feel to be loved by someone like this.

After the war with Gaea, I thought I had got over him. But some feelings still lingered in me, wringing my heart whenever I heard him or saw him around. _Could I never completely let go of him? _ If only that rogue Cupid had given me some tips to get over unrequited love, I would have been so much more grateful to him. Instead, all he did was to use me for his cruel entertainment. Stupid love gods!

“She was not sure when she would return,” Percy continued.

His deep green eyes darted over me and came to rest at my hands. As usual, I was twisting my silver ring. I tried to feign interest but failed miserably. I was not particularly interested in the whereabouts of Annabeth. I took a bite of my pancake and nodded my head, not sure what else to say.

“You are not going home?” I asked, digging at it with my fork. I did not meet his eyes. I wasn’t sure what I wanted his answer to be. Seeing him around would be as painful as not.

“Yeah, I’m going home this Saturday, latest by Sunday. Just need to help out Chiron with some work. Mom and Paul are out of town and they’ll be coming to pick me up. You are staying here, right?” 

I nodded again. _Why is this conversation so awkward?_ I could feel his hesitation across the table. “You want to ask me something, Percy?”

He straightened up as though I had caught him out on a lie. “Hmm, yeah...” He cleared his throat and looked around to see who was sitting around us and where. Everyone had mostly finished their breakfast and was rising to put off their plates. _Nobody to help if I strangled you with my chain belt, Percy! _The thought almost made me smirk wickedly.

“Actually, it is about what you told me the other day.” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “About, you know, your crush on me and all. Is that really true?”

I frowned at him. “I finally gathered up courage to confess to you. And you think it’s a _joke?_”

“No, no, it is just that I can’t understand...I mean, all these years, I always thought you hated me and all of a sudden, you tell me this. I just don’t— I can’t—” He waved his hands loosely like he couldn’t find the right words.

I sighed. _Here we go. _“Why would you think like that? I have never done anything against you.”

“Frankly, I could never figure you out, Nico. I could never tell which side you were on. And whatever I say or do seems to offend you. There was your sister’s matter that lay—”

“That matter is closed, Percy. I don’t hold a grudge against you for that. My sister died a hero. I was foolish then, trying to bring her back. Moreover, she has already chosen rebirth. I am never going to meet her again. And, even if I do, she won’t recognize me.”

He nodded, probably a bit miffed at having been interrupted. “True, thanks for forgiving me. Anyways, what was I saying...? Yeah, and when you took me to your dad and turned me over to him... after that, well, sorry but I found it really hard to trust you.”

I took another bite of my pancake. Will I ever become a good guy in his eyes? _I didn’t know what my father was planning, _I wanted to scream at his face.

When I first heard about the Great Prophecy and learnt that Percy won’t live beyond the age of sixteen, I had almost gone crazy. I was ready to go to any extent to find a solution. I was not bothered about Kronos rising and end of the age of Gods and all that. I didn’t even imagine that the prophecy could apply to me as well. My only intent was that Percy must not die_. _Deep in my heart, I had always known he would never love me back. _At least, not in the way that I want_. But I had consoled myself thinking that at the end, he would surely value me as a good friend. The way the entire Styx episode turned out, I became more of an enemy to him than anywhere close to being a friend.

I drew a heavy breath. _I could never explain all this to him. _And strangely, it didn’t matter to me anymore. I didn’t want to try hard and do foolish things just to get into his good books. _Let’s get this over with, once and for all._

“So, what’s your point, Percy? What are you trying to tell me?”

He hesitated for a moment before answering. “So, when you told me about your crush, I was totally shocked. I never imagined this, not in my wildest dreams. I had dropped the matter but Piper insisted you might still be hurting over me. I don’t want to see anyone hurt because of me.”

“You discussed about me with Piper?” _Jason must have told her all about me._

“Um, no, I think she guessed... being the daughter of Aphrodite and all. She asked me to...uh, what? Like, kind of help you out with this? I—I am not sure what I am supposed to do.”

I tried not to laugh out loud. The poor boy was trying hard even though he was hopeless at it. “Percy, as I told you the other day, I am over you now. Yes, in a really hard way but I guess I am fine.”

He wiped off the few wandering crumbs of bread from his chin. “Hard way?”

“It is difficult to explain everything.” I shrugged as nonchalantly as possible. “But I did a lot of thinking and realized how many stupid things I have done over the years. Well, the experience has matured me a lot, if nothing else.”

“I am sorry, Nico. I really didn’t know what you were going through. I mean, if I have ever intentionally or unintentionally hurt you, I am really sorry for that.”

I was stunned by his apology. From the beginning, I had dreaded the scenario of him finding out my secret. I had always thought he would shun my company after that. I was prepared to hide my secret with my life. But now, here he was, apologizing because _I_ fell in love with him.

“You don’t have to be sorry, Percy,” I said, carefully choosing the next words lest I ruin everything again. “My only regret is that we could have been good friends over the years, but well, you know how it turned out to be.”

He smiled like a difficult ordeal was over. “We still can be friends, Nico. It is not too late. When we rescued you from Westover Hall, I had looked upon on you like one annoying little brother I never had. That is why I still feel responsible for you and many times, I have blamed myself for all the bad things which happened in your life. Now that, I will be moving to New Rome for college and all, I might not be able to visit camp as much as before. So, as you say, I don’t want to have regrets.” He extended his hand. “What say, be my annoying little brother, just like the old times?”

I smiled thinly and took his hand. “I am well past that, but if you insist, I can find a thousand new ways to annoy you.”

He started to laugh. “I am certainly looking forward to that. Let’s go.”

We were walking in a comfortable silence towards our cabins when he shook his head and said, “You speak a lot like Bianca... you know, the way you pronounce each word.”

“How would you remember that? You were with her for hardly a few days.”

“Yeah, but I have experienced this plenty of times, that once a person is not with us, we remember every single conversation we had with them.”

I started twisting my ring. _Where is he going with this? _“So, what do you remember about her?”

Sometimes, memories are all we have of our loved ones and it is always nice to listen to more of them, from others’ point of view. Four years back, when he had tried to tell me the story of their fateful quest, I was still reeling from the shock of having lost my only sister. But, today, it was different. We sat at the door of my cabin, talking and talking. I felt my heart slowly coming to peace with whatever had happened. Maybe, someday, someone will love me for the good as well as the bad in me, and trust me without a second thought. That someone is _definitely_ not Percy.

I happened to glance in the direction of the other cabins and saw two figures walking up the green.

“Is that Piper?”

Percy turned to look. “Where? Oh, yeah... with Malcolm Pace?”

“With the cabin inspection list.”

We both cursed at the same time and scrambled to our feet.

“Nico, I think we can continue this conversation as we are scrubbing the plates at the kitchen patrol. See you, then.”

I looked at his sea green eyes. Once upon a time, I was ready to jump into Tartarus, just for them. But today, I knew the _exact _answer I was to say.

“Percy, thanks for your offer. But if you notice, there are _ten_ more cabins before mine. So, there is enough time for me to clean up my cabin. Good luck with your scrubbing duties.”

He rolled his eyes and ran towards his cabin even as Piper turned the handle of the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Stay at the camp and make friends,” he added. “Staying holed up the whole day in your cabin is no different from living in Hades.”  
The idea of making friends was as terrifying to me as much as it was for the other campers. “I have gone through this already, Will. As I told you the other day, no one wants me around.”  
He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know about others but what about take a chance and let me be your friend?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nico meets his future boyfriend's siblings and has a...lunch date with him? 
> 
> This is a happy filler chapter for our favorite couple. I enjoyed a lot while writing it. Hope you guys enjoy it too!!  
Happy reading!

I trudged to the Apollo cabin, determined to meet Will before my sudden burst of courage should desert me again. I had not noted this before, but the cabin always has a dim golden hue of light around it. I stopped at the door, contemplating whether to knock or not when I heard a voice at my back.

“Nico?” I turned around to find the guy I had come for, walking up behind me. “What are you doing here?”

I forgot why I had come as soon as I saw him. “Um, uh...”_ Okay, cool, let’s try to form at least one proper sentence now. _I cleared my throat. “I came to find you.”

He tilted his head in confusion. “Yeah, I thought—well, we need to talk, Will. I need to tell you something.”

“Oh.” Something passed in his eyes and he moved in front of me to push open the door. “Come on in then. We can talk inside.”

I hesitated. If what I say backfired, I didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of all his siblings. I guess he sensed my hesitation for he asked, “Had lunch?”

I was surprised by the sudden change of topic. “No, not yet.”

“Okay then, come in. I'll just wash up real quick and change out of these dirty clothes. Then you can tell me whatever you want to, over lunch. I am really hungry.”

I nodded and stepped inside his cabin behind him. Inside was complete chaos of the kind that you could find only in a camp full of ADHD demigods. One girl, Kayla I remembered was her name, was sitting on her bunk and dyeing her ginger hair from bright yellow to bright green, making it look like a weird traffic signal. There were two girls engaged in a headlock across her, pulling at each other’s hair, shouting curses and demanding that the other let go first. Kayla continued to dye her hair, not at all bothered. Another boy was sleeping in his bunk. His brother was drawing something on his face. One guy with his hair in cornrows was fiddling with his violin. A younger boy, of about nine, was practicing dart. Only, his target was the back of the head of the violin guy.

Will took in all of this and sighed in resignation. Only then, his cabin mates seemed to realize their head counselor’s presence.

“Charlotte, Sarah, let go of each other’s hair. We can’t be having hair transplants for you every other day. And Roger, Austin’s head is not the target for you. Go out to the archery range if you want to practice.”

Austin swatted at the back of his head in surprise. The younger boy, Roger whined, “But I don’t wanna play with arrows! I like darts better.”

Will shrugged like _whatever_. “All of you had your lunch?”

There was a collective chorus like in a kindergartner’s classroom. “Ye-es, Will.”

He seemed to like that for he smiled. “Okay, I will go out to have lunch now. And guys, this is Nico di Angelo from Hades cabin.” 

Immediately, everyone left whatever they were doing and glanced curiously at me and then, at Will. He grabbed a couple of his clothes from a nearby chair and a towel from a hook. “Nico, you can sit here.” He nudged me to a nearby bunk. “I will be back within five minutes.”

I nodded and sat down. “Hey, it’s okay. Take your time.”

As soon as he went to the washroom, I became the focus of everybody’s attention, so much so that I started to feel self-conscious. Even the girls in the headlock had released each other to study me. The boy with the darts, Roger sat down to stare at my face. Perhaps, he was assessing which part of my face would serve as the best target.

I tried for a smile and tentatively raised my hand. “Hi, guys.”

Kayla elbowed the violin guy. “Hey, Austin, check it out. He is _that _Nico.” The two girls snickered.

I was confused. “Huh, what?”

Some understanding passed among the four of them. Austin turned to me. “We have heard a lot about you. Aren’t you the same Nico who dragged the Athena statue from Greece till here?”

I had a feeling that he was saying something entirely different from what had passed between them. But I decided to play along. “Yeah, the same Nico. But, I didn’t move the statue alone. I had help—the Roman praetor, Reyna...she helped me a lot. And later on, we had half a dozen pegasi to transport it here.”

Austin shook his head. “But, man, what you did was seriously heroic. Imagine dragging a forty feet statue half way across the world. Again, if you had not succeeded, then our two camps would never have got unified—”

“And the monsters would have blown us all up,” Kayla continued. “You saved both the camps, Nico.” She gave me a thumbs-up.

“Oh, yeah, thanks a lot.”

I shifted on the bunk to sit more comfortably. Something nudged against my butt and I took the object in my hand to see..._a Mythomagic Apollo figurine?_

Kayla had started to apply her green paint again. “That’s Will’s. He was playing with it last night.”

I glanced up to see if she was talking to me. She gestured with her knuckle to the statue in my hand. “About that, you know. Will was playing with it last night.”

“Oh.” Suddenly, I felt like I was handling a nuclear bomb. I scrambled to set it upon the nearby table. “He plays Mythomagic, then?”

Kayla pricked her ear. “What—magic?”

“Mythomagic.” I repeated. “This figurine belongs to that game.”

She shrugged. “Oh, I have never heard of that game. Maybe, he plays it. I—I don’t know.”

After that, they bombarded me with a hundred questions about...well, everything—how shadow travel works, if I could sneak them out to the beach or the mall someday, how the food is in the Underworld, if I get along with Persephone, whether I could arrange a Skeleton Dance in the amphitheater. Once I got tired of answering their questions, they started telling me about basketball, how Will is the best head counselor ever and then, about some entirely random things.

Presently, Will walked out of the washroom, wearing his typical faded shirt and shorts, and smelling strongly of soap and shampoo.

Kayla grinned widely. “So? You washed your hair?”

Will glared at her. He picked up the hair dryer from the shelf above the bunk on which I was sitting and started to dry his hair. I rose and moved aside to give him some space.

Sarah, I think was her name, sniffed the air like a puppy. “Hey, he used that expensive body wash. The one he saves up _only_ for special occasions, you know.”

The other girl propped up her chin in her hands. “Oh, yeah...?” she sang. “And what’s the special occasion, Wi-ill?”

I had to smile. I wished I too had siblings like them. Hazel is my only sister and she had gone off to New Rome. And Bianca...I tried to push away the thought before the entire dam of my sorrow broke down again.

Will was hastily combing his wet hair. “Yeah, the special occasion is that I finally got released from the infirmary. Happy?”

Everyone started to giggle at his answer. “Come on, Nico. Let’s go.” He slipped on his flip-flops and practically grabbed my hand to pull me out of the cabin before his siblings could tease him some more. 

Will was not joking when he said he was hungry.

His golden hair gleamed in the late afternoon sun and his long eyelashes cast shadows on his bulging cheeks. The latter, because he didn’t stop to breath, chew or swallow as he stuffed food in his mouth. I watched in a mixture of fascination and horror and decided not to disturb him while he was eating.

As for me, I didn’t have any appetite. Just the thought of having to have a full-fledged conversation with him churned my stomach. Speaking to ghosts was so much easier. _Ghosts don’t get offended. _Not that I ever bothered, but this was Will. As usual, my brain had an intelligent question: _And how is he different from any of the other two-legged living beings around you? _

After lunch, we were walking along the canoe lake. The naiads cracked open their eyes from their afternoon nap when they heard us, but then went back to sleep.

Will flopped down on the ground and patted next to him. “So, what do you want to tell me?”

I sat down. I had thought of apologizing if he fretted too much over why I didn’t come to see him after I was discharged, as he did the other day. But, today, he seemed to be in a good mood, so I decided to pass. “It’s, um, nothing. I just came by to see you.”

He looked at me in surprise and the corners of his lips twitched upwards. “Miss me much?”

I was caught off guard. I hoped I didn’t blush; I did notice the tips of his ears turning red. _He must have blurted out without thinking. _I tried to answer as nonchalantly as I could. “Ha-ha, you wish!”

Will cleared his throat and faced ahead. “I wanted to check on you after that night. But I got really busy with the other patients. I asked Kayla to keep an eye on you. She said you didn’t have any other nightmares.”

_Probably, this was what passed between those kids. _“Yeah, I didn’t get any nightmares after that day,” I echoed.

“I had hoped you would come around to say goodbye when you were leaving. But you didn’t. When I went back to your cot, you were already gone.”

His tone was not accusing, just plain sad, so much that I started to wonder if he _actually_ enjoys my company. My brain snorted: _He would be the first who enjoys being with Underworld creatures. _

But I could feel a subtle change in his manner, like he doubted whether I wanted to be with him. I felt a pang of guilt. I had not thought he would come to that conclusion. I decided against my usual answers such as _I had my reasons_, _that’s none of your business_ and so on. Those might make him even sadder.

I swallowed my discomfort. “I was embarrassed, okay?”

He stared at me in disbelief. “You were...what? Why?”

“I was embarrassed,” I repeated, gritting my teeth. “See, I don’t cry at all or even if I do, never in front of anybody. Except, maybe for Hazel. And well, Reyna, but that was one time. That night, I was having a full-out crying session in front of you, and, and—” _And, you were hugging me tightly. And, I don’t know how I feel about you. And, I was howling loud and ugly in front of you. _

He smiled gently and patted my shoulder. “Nico, you are a human, not a robot. The need to shed tears is your body’s way to release its toxins and chemical imbalances coming from strong emotions like pain, fear, joy and such. That is why, you actually feel better after crying. You slept peacefully afterwards that day, remember? Plus when you cry in front of someone, you tend to feel safer. Do you understand me?”

_And here is our favorite doctor Will Solace with all his medical jargons. _He reminded me of his dad Apollo, who had started spouting out facts when I asked him about his solar car. I nodded anyways, but was partly relieved that he took the whole thing in a strictly professional way.

“By the way, you won’t run off to Hades again, will you?” he continued. “Being there for so long has completely ruined your beautiful olive skin. Now, you look so—” He waved his hand at me and made a face of sorry or disgust or possibly, both.

Of course, my mind fixated on the _beautiful olive skin _part. _Holy Hades, he called you beautiful!_

_He called my skin beautiful, dummy, _I replied. _The skin that I don’t even have now. _The saner part of me wondered how he knew that. Everyone around me has only seen me as being _sickly pale_.

Presently, I mulled over what he said. _It is not like I have a choice. _I remembered the first day I had arrived at the camp. I was so excited by the whole idea of a Greek camp and seeing my favorite Mythomagic characters in live. Now, I seemed to have been permanently zapped into eternal sorrow and darkness.

“But that’s part of who I am, Will,” I answered, twisting my silver skull ring. “I can’t refuse to go down to Hades if the need arises. It’s my fate as well as my birthright.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, that is correct. But going there sometimes is different from living there altogether. It is like...how to say—uh, look at Clarisse, for example. Since her dad is a war god, she is good at fighting and all. But you don’t see her sleeping in the battlefield itself.”

I glanced at Clarisse, who was trying to pick a fight with two campers. “She _does_ sleep in her battle armor, for all I know.”

He started to protest. “Hey, that’s not my point—”

“But, I do get your point.” I cut him off. “You are saying that I should try to live like a teenager in the living world--”

“Excuse me, but you _are_ a teenager.”

“And stay at the camp.”

“Stay at the camp _and make friends_,” he added. “Staying holed up the whole day in your cabin is no different from living in Hades.”

The idea of making friends was as terrifying to me as much as it was for the other campers. “I have gone through this already, Will. As I told you the other day, no one wants me around.”

“I don’t know about others but what about take a chance and let _me_ be your friend?”

I wanted to ask him what he gets from being friends with me, but I stopped myself. I didn’t want to nip off a budding friendship. “Okay, but how—or no, what should I do for this..._friendship_ thing?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know what I am supposed to do as a friend.” I was surprised by my own honesty. “I don’t know how to talk to people. Everybody gets frightened when I do. I have seen people flinch when I start talking to them.”

He shrugged as if it was no big deal. “I am not. We have been talking for so long now, and I am quite comfortable being with you.”

“You are an exception, then.”

We were silent for some time.

Presently, Will turned to me. “You asked me about how to be friends, right? One thing friends must do is helping out each other. I have inventory stock-take in the infirmary that I need to finish by today. Will you help me out with it?”

I rolled my eyes. _So much for being friends. _“One of these days, I swear I am gonna set a legion of zombies after you, Will Solace. And I am not kidding.”

He grinned. “So, you will come then?”

I took a deep breath. “Since I don’t have anything better to do.”

Will clapped his hands and jumped to his feet. “Then, let’s go and finish off that work as quickly as we can. After that, we can play video games or whatever you want to do. Oh, and you can bring in your zombies to help out. I would be grateful for as many helping hands.”

I couldn’t help grinning back. “Gods, you are such a dork, Will.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bianca was wrong.  
She claimed that the fatal flaw of children of Hades is holding grudges. Mine is not. Over the years, I have come to realize that my fatal flaw is blurting out stuff without thinking – stuff that, more or less, comes back to bite me in the butt.

Bianca was wrong. 

She claimed that the fatal flaw of children of Hades is holding grudges. Mine is not. Over the years, I have come to realize that _my_ fatal flaw is blurting out stuff without thinking – stuff that, more or less, comes back to bite me in the butt.

For instance, sitting outside the crumbled ruins of the House of Hades, I had calculated that I needed to get off the ship _anyhow_. I couldn’t imagine being in the same place as Percy and watch him getting all lovey-dovey with Annabeth. So, when Reyna was facing the issue of transporting Athena Parthenos, I blurted out the idea of shadow travel. As I had expected, the quest left me with plenty of regrettable memories: Coach Hedge’s loud microphone, the werewolf claw marks on my biceps, the stale powdered doughnuts, the loud Hawaiian shirt, Hunters of Artemis and of course, the fact that I was on the brink of fading away completely into shadows.

Percy had informed me that he was returning home by the end of the week. Since I had stopped keeping tabs on him anymore, I forgot all about that. And, that was the day when my fatal flaw took hold of me again.

After breakfast with Jason and Piper and sword fighting practice in the arena, I had returned to my cabin when I got a sudden urge to clean up the whole place. My cabin resembled an obsidian coffin with no windows. _Who on earth builds a cabin with no windows? Children of Hades also need to breathe. _I decided that the least I could do, was to make it look like a cleaner coffin.

All the shelves were covered in two inches deep bone dust and cobwebs. I tried to brush them as well as I could. My energy wore off soon. I considered having the entire cabin pulled down and rebuilt rather than cleaning it. I didn’t possess many things anyways. Just my sword, the Hades statue, a couple of black shirts - torn and mended, one extra pair of jeans other than the one I was wearing and a few sets of underwear. _I definitely need to go shopping before I am forced to wear that stupid bright orange shirt from the camp store._

In the closet, I found two long bones that looked like the femurs of a very tall man or suspiciously that of a Cyclops. I remembered pulling out those to use as drying rods for my clothes. Before the cabin inspection team came inside, I had hastily stuffed them into the closet. “Sorry, buddy,” I murmured to the bone. It was bad enough to be undead as a skeleton; to be missing two legs as well, that was even worse.

Presently, I pulled down a large chest from the topmost shelf. _Who put this in my cabin? _From the design and age of the chest, I guessed it should be from the 18th century. Instantly, I got excited. _Did Pirate Blackbeard’s ghost hide his treasure in my cabin?_

I was disappointed to find only two lizards in the box. As I leaned forward to see if anything else was inside, I tripped and fell right into the chest. Cursing, I sneezed so hard that the cabin door flew open. I turned to look, impressed by my own power. Percy was standing by the door. _Oh._

“Hey, man, sorry I came in without knocking.” Percy said, pointing at the door. “I heard something falling, so I rushed in to check if you are okay.”

I pulled myself up from the chest. “That something would be me, I suppose. I was trying to clean the room, when I fell on top of this chest.”

“Sunday cleaning spree?” Percy asked.

“Yeah, you can say that.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “The cabin is so dirty that the air has become as poisonous as in Tartarus.”

“Ha-ha, guess you can tell from firsthand experience.” He looked around. “Also, your cabin has no windows to let in the fresh air. Perhaps next time Annabeth is here, you can ask her to redesign the cabin.”

“I should probably do that. I don’t know who built the cabin the first time. The décor is horrible.”

Percy scowled. “Didn’t _you_? I remember you bringing in undead builders to build the cabin.”

“I did?” Honestly, I couldn’t remember. If that is so, the younger me had no foresight. My brain retorted: _DUH_.

I was about to thank him and continue my work, when I noticed he was shifting uncomfortably from one leg to another. I looked at him curiously. “What’s up, Percy?”

He glanced up and smiled nervously. “Ah, you noticed? Yeah, actually I came up here to ask if you would come with me. My mom wants to meet you.”

“Me? Why?” _Gods of Olympus, did he tell his mom about me?! _

“She just wants to meet all of us...I mean, those who were with me on the Argo II.” He must have noticed my hesitation for he continued quickly. “I have informed Chiron. We can have lunch together...Jason and Piper are already there with my mom and Paul.”

I brushed off the dust from my jeans. “Actually, I didn’t...um, okay, let’s go. I will just pick up my sword.”

Ms. Jackson was not any different from the last time I saw her, except for the half a dozen worry lines on her forehead. She must have been really distraught about her son’s disappearance. I thought about the last time my parents had been worried about me. My mom was dead. My dad was quite encouraging about my death. _Guess he could see his annoying son forever in Hades. _That didn’t seem much of a cheerful prospect for either me or my dad.

Percy sat down next to his mom. I greeted his mom and stepdad and wedged myself between Jason and Piper. “Mom, this is Nico.” He leaned toward his stepdad. “Son of Hades, as we were talking about.”

She scrunched up her eyebrows. “Oh, isn’t he the little demigod who had come to our house the other day?”

I would have punched anyone who dared calling me _little demigod_ but Sally Jackson had that kind of a motherly aura around her, that all I wanted was to agree with her and curl up next to her.

“Yeah, I remember.” Paul agreed. He was looking at me as though he had expected something else for _a_ _son of Hades_. “When Percy came to get your blessings for the dip in Styx and all. Oh, and with that supersized dog.”

She glanced at me and her worry lines doubled. “What happened to you, dear? You look so pale and sick. Percy, haven’t I told you that you should look out for your friends?”

Percy scowled in protest. Before he could say anything, I spoke up. “Ms. Jackson, it is not Percy’s fault. I got stuck in--”

“Some _unhealthy _places_.” _Percy broke in quickly. “Now that Nico is safe and in the camp, he will regain his health.”

“Nico eats with us nowadays.” Piper joined in. “So, we will keep an eye on him, Ms. Jackson. If he doesn’t eat his veggies properly, I can always use my charmspeak on him.” She smirked wickedly at me.

I glared at her. “Don’t you dare, Piper. I have already had enough from Will. I don’t need you to order me around as well.”

“Will who?”

“I think he means Will Solace.” Jason said. “He is the head counselor of the Apollo cabin.”

“He is like the chief medic for our camp.” Percy started to explain to his parents. Jason was nodding, but Piper smiled at me as though she knew a big secret that I did not know. I blushed in spite of myself. Her smile widened to a grin. _I hate Aphrodite kids._

After that, I didn’t pay much attention to what they were talking and just focused on my lunch. I didn’t even realize when I had started concentrating on their death auras.

When I noticed Ms. Jackson’s, I blurted out. “Oh, Percy, is your mom--?” I stopped myself before finishing the sentence but I knew the damage was already done.

Percy pricked up his ears. “What, what happened to my mom?”

For a moment, his mom was as confused as everyone. But then, realization set in and she frowned in disappointment. She obviously didn’t approve of revealing this news prematurely. She had probably wanted to break it to Percy as a homecoming surprise, or maybe, she wasn’t sure how her son would take the news and wanted to tell him in private. Percy was glaring at me. I was sure he would soon strangle me to death if I didn’t answer.

His mom and I sighed at the same time. She shared a look with Paul and then held my gaze: _I will tell him. _I nodded apologetically. Percy looked from one to the other between us. “Mom, what _is _going on? What is wrong with you? I have a right--”

“I am pregnant, Percy.”

All his anger and dismay vanished into surprise. “Say what?”

“Paul and I wanted to tell you about this, later, when we reach home.” She placed her hand gently on Paul’s. “But, Nico guessed this and I am left with no choice but to tell you now. Percy, I don’t know how you are going to take this news...but--”

“Mom?!” Percy broke in with a grin. “Are you kidding me? I am gonna be the happiest and proudest big brother ever.”

I was relieved to see that the mess done by my useless mouth was hopefully minimum. After we had finished congratulating the expecting parents, Piper asked, “But, you don’t _look _pregnant, Ms. Jackson...I mean--”

“Yeah, I am two months pregnant now. If you were expecting the swollen belly, it will take a few more months.”

Piper turned to me in surprise. “Then, how did you know that?”

I sighed. “I was randomly looking at everybody’s death aura, okay? I didn’t mean to...but, well, Percy’s mom had two. So, I guessed she must be pregnant.”

“Death aura?” Paul asked hesitantly. “That doesn’t sound like a...uh, good thing.” _Yeah, and what do you expect when you are dealing with a son of Hades? _Sally placed her hand protectively over her stomach. I was pretty sure that both mother and son did a ward-against-evil sign against me in their minds. _Oh great! So now, we can add two more names to my mortally-scared-of-Nico list of people._

Sometime later, Piper wanted to make a video call to her dad and the three of us decided to leave. We left them laughing as Percy pestered his mom with a hundred questions. “I need to wait for eight more months? What shall we name the baby? Will it be a baby boy or baby girl? Or maybe, twins?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I looked into his blue eyes. I remembered the day I had looked into Percy’s green eyes and he had promised to keep Bianca safe.  
“Promise?”  
Will smiled gently. “Promise.”  
“Great.” I whispered and passed out on his shoulder.

_I am ten years old again. I don’t have my Stygian Iron sword. The only thing I have in my hand is the Hades figurine for which Bianca had died. I look up to see crowds of ghosts, inching closer toward me. _

_“Go away.” I yell. All of a sudden, the ghosts become wary. I look back to see Bianca...with my sword. “Stay behind me, little brother. I will protect you.” I am grateful. She steps in front of me, one step, two steps, and then she dissolves among the ghosts. No! The ghosts surround me with newfound energy. “Join us, son of Hades.” _

_“No, I am not joining you. I am the ghost king. I don’t fear you.”_

_“Join us, son of Hades and you can be our king. The king of the nameless ghosts. The king of the forgotten spirits. You are also as forgotten as we are.”_

_“That is not true.” I want to shout out, but my voice doesn’t work. _

_The scene changes. I am in Tartarus again. I am sick and bleeding, trudging ahead without any hopes of escape. Akhlys turns her face towards me, bloody tears dripping upon her shield. “What more can I do for you, child of Hades? You are perfect for me, so much misery and sadness.”_

_“I am not sad anymore.” I say. “I am trying to be happy.”_

_“A futile attempt.” Akhlys bursts into a cruel laughter. “Nobody in your world wants you around. You are full of misery and pain. This is the real world. Abandon all your hopes and join us. Here, you are most welcome.” With that, she lunges at my throat with her talons._

I woke up, screaming. My mind always replayed scenes from Tartarus, but this time the nightmare felt so real that it took me a long time to steady my breathing.

I groped across the walls to switch on the light. It was past midnight. I sat down on the floor, pulling my knees to my chest. Even with the lights on, long shadows danced across the walls. I could hear the whisper of the ghosts..._Join us, son of Hades_. I tried not to pay attention, but the voices became insistently closer and louder, as though they were speaking in my mind.

I wouldn’t say I was not tempted. More than half of me wanted to put an end to all my sufferings. The easiest way for that was simply dying. _I am not even from this century. Why would it matter if I live or die? The ghosts are right. Akhlys is right. Nobody wants a person full of pain and misery around. Nobody wants me around._

Slowly, I let my body melt into the darkness. My eyes welled up, but I couldn’t say whether it was out of pain or relief. _Peace at last._ _Will anyone know that I am never going to return? That I have permanently dissolved into shadows?_

As the last part of me was melting, a tussle broke out in my mind. A small part of me tried to reason with me to stop. _Nico! Stop! You will not be remembered as a hero, but as a coward if you die like this. _

_Doesn’t matter. Dying is a hundred times better than living and suffering. _

_You have survived Tartarus; you have escaped from the giants. Don’t give up hope. You will find happiness, someday. But if you don’t even try, how would you know?_

I panicked when I started to suffocate. I frantically tried to pull out my consciousness from the abyss it was sinking into. But the darkness in my room was not helping. _I need to get out of the room. But where would I go? Who would listen to me? Who would hold me from changing my mind again? _

Chiron? _He doesn’t care if I stay on at the camp or not. _

Percy? _He has left. And, even if he is here, I won’t go to him._

Jason? _He will be startled and might blow me up with his lightning bolt. _

_Join us,_ the ghosts insisted. _No one cares about you. We were also like that, friendless and unloved. We ended up here. You too must._

Suddenly, I remembered what Will had said, the other day. _I don’t know about others but what about take a chance and let me be your friend?_

I took a deep breath and gave up my final strength, hoping I would end up inside the Apollo cabin and not in eternal darkness.

Thankfully, I ended up outside Cabin 7. As usual, the cabin glowed with a soft golden light. Before the patrol harpies could spot me, I turned the handle and stepped inside.

I maneuvered my way through, trying to remember the positions of the things from the other day. I found Will sleeping on his bunk. I wanted to wake him up, but I faltered looking at his face. In the dim moonlight, his face looked so peaceful that I forgot all my fears immediately. _Even his closed eyes radiate calmness, his forehead is so free of worry lines..._I suddenly felt like a voyeur, staring at someone while they were sleeping.

I sat down on the floor below his bunk. _I will just sit here till the first light of dawn and then slip back into my cabin before anyone wakes up._ I had decided upon this when I heard a small whisper: “Nico?”

I glanced up to see Will, his head lolling down. “What are you doing here?”

I hesitated. _Yeah, what am I doing here?_

He climbed down, careful not to wake up his bunk mates. He joined me on the floor. “Did you shadow travel here?”

I nodded. He looked at me appreciatively. “Wow! You can shadow travel anywhere, eh? No need to be scared of those shredding harpies too.”

“_They_ are scared of me, I think.” I said, trying to keep my voice as low as possible. He snickered lightly. “Actually, I was having a nightmare.” I continued, once again surprised at how openly I was able to talk to him. “I got scared to stay in my cabin by my own. So, I came here because I felt, uh...safe?”

“You are asking me or telling me?” His sleepy blue eyes twinkled in the moonlight.

“Huh? Telling, I suppose. I would have scared the others if I sneaked into their cabin in the middle of the night. But you claimed you won’t get scared.”

“Yeah, I am not. I am actually thrilled that you broke the rules to come here.”

I smiled slowly, not sure how to take what he said. All of a sudden, a shadow like that of a flying creature passed over the opposite window. “Is that a patrol harpy?” Will hissed. “Did it mark you down somehow?”

“No way!” I hissed back. “I was very careful. I didn’t even leave my cabin door open.”

“Okay, hit the deck, hit the deck!”

After we thought enough time had passed, we crawled over to the window as quietly as we could. Will was about to peep over the sill when I noticed the silhouette of the harpy’s wings. I yanked him over into one shadowy corner. The harpy looked around, found nothing wrong and flew away in a flutter of its wings. 

“Phew! That was close.” Will gasped. I nodded, my heart still beating fast from the thrill. He paused and continued. “Nico, you don’t have to go back to your cabin, you know. You can sleep over there in the sick cot.” _Okay._

He was about to crawl back to his bunk, when I tugged at his hand. “Will you sit here with me for some time?”

I must have looked really vulnerable for he crouched down next to me and took my hands in his. “Oh, your hands are bleeding.” he noted with mild surprise. I was surprised myself. In the moonlight, I saw several deep gashes on my palms. _I must have clenched my fists too hard._

As he bandaged my palms, I slowly told him about my nightmare. Apparently, the Apollo kids are heavy sleepers. They kept snoring as I talked. They could probably sleep through an entire holocaust and wake up the next morning to find the world around them destroyed. 

After I finished, we sat in silence for some time. “I really don’t know what to say, Nico.” Will took a shaky breath. “But--but, don’t give in to whatever those evil things tell you, please? I know it is really difficult for you now, but we can overcome it. No, we _will _overcome this.”

I looked into his blue eyes. I remembered the day I had looked into Percy’s green eyes and he had promised to keep Bianca safe. “Promise?”

Will smiled gently. “Promise.”

“Great.” I whispered and passed out on his shoulder.

I became aware of two voices whispering softly near me.

“Is he coming around?” _Piper._

“Guess so...yeah. Will you--?” _Jason._

“Okay.” There was a rustling sound as someone, I think Piper, rose from their chair and moved away.

I managed to open my eyes and tried to focus. Jason was sitting nearby in a chair. Soon, all my senses started working properly. I was back in my infirmary bed and the room was bathed in the bright afternoon sun.

“Nico, can you hear me?” Jason asked.

“Yes.” I tried to say but my voice felt hoarse as if I hadn’t used it in forever. “Why am I in the infirmary?”

Jason pulled his chair closer to my bed. “Why would anyone be in the infirmary? Because you are sick.”

“But what happened to me?” I sat up in my bed. “I was fine...as far as I remember.”

“What do you remember last?”

“I--” My voice faltered. _I sneaked into the Apollo cabin to meet Will? We hid from the harpy, he bandaged my palm, and then? _I looked down at my palms to see the wounds were almost completely healed.

I was saved from answering as three people entered the room. Piper, Will plus Chiron in his wheelchair pushed into the room by Piper.

At first, I got scared that Chiron was here to scold me about breaking the rules. But then, I thought- _Why does it matter? He would probably ask me to get out of his camp. Okay, fine. _

However, Chiron smiled warmly at me. “Glad to see you are awake, my boy. You got all of us worried.”

I was confused. “What-what happened to me? I passed out?”

Chiron nodded. “You _literally _passed out cold. You were lying in such a deep coma, we almost could have mistook you for...being _dead_. None of your senses were working; you had stopped breathing and become so cold...” He took a deep breath and patted Will’s shoulders. “If it was not for Will here, we would surely have lost you.”

I tried to thank him, but he waved me off saying it was his duty as a healer.

Chiron rolled his wheelchair to come closer to me. “This time around, Will brought you to the infirmary in time.” I glanced at Will, but he gave me a clear statement in his eyes. _I will tell you what I told him, later, for now just pretend like you don’t know anything._

“But, Gods forbid,” Chiron continued. “If something like this happens to you again, we should be able to help you immediately.”

Will nodded. “I feel like we should not keep him in his cabin, all alone, until he is completely healed, at least. Probably, he can use the sick cot in the Apollo cabin, so that the healers can keep an eye on him, 24/7.”

“Or, if there is no space in your cabin, he can stay with me.” Jason said. “I am all alone in my cabin too, I will be quite grateful for the company.”

Chiron shook his head. “Will is correct about giving Nico some company rather than staying alone. But, Zeus and Hades in one cabin, no way. And no to keeping Nico in Apollo cabin as well. I think the best option would be to put you up in the Big House. I am always here, so any emergency occurs...I will be able to attend to you immediately. What do you say?”

I agreed, hoping I was correct. After a few more discussions, Will rolled Chiron out of the room, leaving me alone with Jason and Piper.

“How long was I out?”

Jason adjusted his glasses. “Over 36 hours. Man, we really thought you would never wake up. I am glad, Nico...” He reached out to give a big hug. _Gods, how many times should I tell them I don’t like to be touched? _But, both of them looked like they were going to tear up, so I decided not to say anything.

Piper sat down at the end of my bed. “Did you get any nightmares from...you know, from Tartarus, before you passed out? Will was saying that this might be like the after effects of that.”

I nodded glumly. “Sometimes I wish...I mean, no offense to you guys, I am _really_ grateful that you rescued me...but, sometimes, I wish you had _never_ rescued me from that bronze jar. Or you had just come up late. Then, I didn't have to suffer through these Tartarus nightmares.”

Piper started to protest but Jason kept his hand on her arm. “We were meant to rescue you, Nico. There was the prophecy...that only _you_ could have helped us find the Doors of Death. That obviously meant we had to go through everything to rescue you.”

“Yes, of course, I understand. It’s just...” I wondered if they would have given up on me if I was not of any importance to them or their prophecy. _That would have been so much better._

“Nico, see, we went through a lot to rescue you, okay? You are going to live and live happily from now on. You are going to forget all the sufferings you went through.” I was pretty sure Piper was using her charmspeak on me, but for once I was grateful. “I have already lost a friend who was like my own little brother. I don’t want anything happening to you as well.”

She turned away as her multicolored eyes filled up with tears. “I just wish...we had some news about Leo.”

That night, at the campfire, Piper got her wish fulfilled in the form of a scroll fluttering in, with the news of the lost Navigator of the Argo II.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A feeling of fierce protectiveness crept into my heart. I wanted to take care of him, the same way he takes care of everyone around him. I wondered if below his calm facade, he was actually broken, just like me.
> 
> He looked at me, a soft look in his eyes. “That day, I realized that I was after all similar to my father in some important ways.”
> 
> “Why? Did you start spouting out haikus after the Ares kid broke your nose?”

September had almost ended. All of us at Camp Half-blood had expected that the scroll which had fluttered in during the camp fire would be followed by Leo Valdez himself. But we received no further news of Leo or Calypso. Piper and Jason spent the entire month searching for their best friend. I didn’t know much about the sorceress Calypso, except that Percy had got stuck with her on her island and had returned reluctantly after a long time.

I was not sure how to take the news that Leo was alive. There were a million questions that floated around in my head. Something my father told me at the chapel at Evora became clearer to me.

_Hazel has discovered that one of the Seven will die. She may try to prevent this... _This was about Leo.

_You know that some deaths cannot be prevented. Some deaths should not be prevented. When the time comes, you may need to act. _And, this might not be about Octavian, after all. This too must have been about Leo.

But I didn’t understand what my dad was expecting from me. I hadn’t known that the seven of them had gone on a quest to retrieve the Physician’s Cure until after the war with Gaea, when we had gathered to mourn over Leo’s death.

I spent the entire morning, practicing sword fighting at the arena with Sherman Yang and Ellis Wakefield from Ares cabin. As I was walking back to my cabin, I noticed Will sitting by himself on the steps of the Big House, absentmindedly wrapping and unwrapping a bandage around his wrist - a habit I had come to associate with his thoughtful or depressed moods.

He looked up as I walked up to him. “Hey, Nico! Done with your sword fighting practice?”

I nodded and sat down on the lower step. “What’s up with you? You look kind of sad.”

“Um, not sad. I was just thinking...about my dad, Leo and stuff like that?”

“Why? You heard anything from Apollo after the war?”

He shook his head. “No, that’s what. Jason said that Zeus had held him responsible for everything that had happened and left him in the hands of the Fates. I wonder what has happened to him.”

I nodded, not sure what to say. “And Leo...,” he continued. “He died, took the Physician’s cure and came back alive? Wow!”

By now, I knew him very well to recognize the lack of enthusiasm in his voice. I looked up at him questioningly.

He sighed. “Look, don’t take it in the wrong way. I am really glad that Leo is alive and well. It’s just that...that--”

“You think that this might have some adverse effects?”

He nodded. “Well, there was a huge commotion over this cure when Asclepius used it to bring people back from dead. You would know about it, surely?”

Some Athena kids had started to gather in the archery ground. “Yeah, my dad was not happy that the dead were being resurrected. So, Zeus killed Asclepius with his lightning bolt. The guy is Apollo’s son, right?”

He nodded again. “Yep, that would make him my half-brother, I guess. Then, Apollo got enraged and killed the Cyclopes that had created the lightning bolt in revenge. And the story ends with Apollo being banished to earth as punishment for a year.”

“So much for a happy ending. But, you know, now that Apollo is already in the hands of the Fates, this might be overlooked by Zeus. But, I am not sure what my father might do. He had _actually_ warned me that something like this might happen.”

He raised his eyebrow. “Oh, like in a good way or in a don’t-let-it-happen way?”

I scoffed. “Why would he tell me this in ‘a good way’? He would hate it if souls escape from Underworld.”

He winced lightly, in what I thought was embarrassment. “True that. But again, the prophecy? The fact that Leo is alive now...it won’t mean that the prophecy is unfulfilled, right?”

I shrugged and shook my head. “I have no idea. You don’t expect the son of Hades to know about the workings of prophecies, do you?”

He started to laugh. _Wow, I made someone laugh. _“Yeah, my bad. I just wish we had some answers.”

We sat silently for some time. I watched as the Athena kids in the archery range were running about, as if searching for something. _What is going on?_

Will cleared his throat. “By the way, do you still play that game of statues you used to play when you were younger?”

I was surprised at his question. “Mythomagic? How do _you_ know about it? I mean, how do you know that I used to play that?”

He scrunched up his eyebrows. “Oh, you don’t remember? You tried to teach me that game. You even gave me the Apollo statue from your collection.”

I remembered the Apollo figurine lying on his bunk when I had visited Cabin Seven. _That was mine? When did I give it to him?_

He was looking at me curiously. “What do you remember about me, then? Or how do you know me?”

I frowned at his question. I tried to think about all the times I had talked to him before now, but came up with nothing. “I remember you from the Battle of Manhattan. You were running about and pulling injured campers out of the way to take them to the field medical camps. You were risking your life to save them. That was quite heroic.”

He was probably not used to getting compliments, for his cheeks blushed deep pink. “Yeah, thanks a lot, Death Boy.” I rolled my eyes at the nickname. _There was no stopping this idiot. _“And again, this is coming from a demigod, who saved the day by showing up with a huge zombie army.”

I started to protest but he cut me off. “Anyways, that was not what I was asking. You don’t remember me from before that, then?”

I racked my brain for any older memories, but I could remember nothing from the camp. Except for the day near the dining pavilion when Percy had come to inform me of Bianca’s death. That was so fresh that it could have happened yesterday.

“I think it was even before you were claimed,” he continued. “When you were still in the Hermes cabin...um, before you left the camp the first time.”

I tried to remember. “I really don’t remember anything, Will. I am sorry. Perhaps, if you can tell me some incident that had happened then...”

Will shook his head. “No, no, nothing had happened. I was just trying to tell you that we were friends before...well, at least, I _thought_ we had been friends before you ran away.” He waved his hand in a dismissive fashion. “It is not important, Nico. I am just glad you are staying back at camp now.”

Something in his voice told me that he was a bit hurt that I remembered nothing about him. I am really stuck up on things like this. Like when I left no stones unturned to gather information about my mom.

I wanted to coax him for more details when two kids came running in our direction. _Kayla and Austin?_ Will sprang to his feet as soon as he saw them. From their faces, I realized immediately that something serious had happened.

So, there _was _something going on in the archery range. Long story short, Roger, the nine year old boy with the darts from Apollo cabin, was being accused of having stolen some important papers from Brian Hill of Athena cabin. A huge crowd jostled excitedly around us within seconds of the news spreading that a fight was about to break out between the two cabins.

When the four of us reached the archery arena, Annabeth was kneeling in front of Roger, trying to console him and get him to speak coherently but her steely gray eyes probably terrified the poor kid even more. And the burly guy, who was standing behind her, didn’t help the matter either. I guessed that he must be the Brian Hill whose papers were stolen. Brian didn’t look anything like an Athena guy. From his heavily built body to his shaven head, I would have imagined that he belonged to the Ares cabin than Athena. The only thing he had in common were the typical gray eyes. And, the keen intellect, perhaps.

As soon as Roger saw us, he bolted from Annabeth’s hands into Will’s knees. “Will, I swear I didn’t steal them...I don’t even know what papers that big guy is talking about. Why would I steal _papers_? Heck, I don’t even like to study.”

Will patted his shoulders. “We will sort this out, Roger. Don’t worry.”

Will was not really flamboyant nor was he that good at diplomacy. But the way he stood facing Annabeth and the way the other Apollo kids gathered around him, I realized how much the kids looked upon him as their head counselor, like he could just jump in and solve any of their problems. But I could see that he was actually terrified and just keeping it together for his younger siblings. He had to face the accusations that the Athena cabin was projecting and prove his cabin’s innocence. Against Athena, he probably knew in his heart that they stood no chance. They always come fully prepared, be it for a small firefight or a full-scale war. 

But this faceoff triggered a memory that was buried deep in my mind beneath all the other miserable experiences of my life.

_Bianca has gone for the quest. Percy also is gone. Percy has promised to keep her safe. She will be safe. Percy will protect her. He is a hero, he has fought many battles. He won’t make any mistakes, will he? But still..._

_Who are they? Oh, they are coming to me. _

_I get up from my comfortable position. _

_The taller, brown haired boy asks, “Hey, are you free? Will you join us for a basketball match?”_

_“Um, but I don’t know to play.”_

_He throws up his hands in a what-to-do-now gesture. _

_His friend, a shorter, golden haired boy speaks up. “Alex, you go ahead. I will stay with him. He seems to be new here. I will show him around or something.”_

_“You are okay with not joining us?”_

_The shorter kid shrugs. “We play basketball almost daily. I want to make a new friend.”_

_Alex waves us goodbye and runs off to meet his team mates. _

_The golden haired boy looks around my age, but he has not grown out of his babyish chubbiness. He is a bit shorter than me with plump hands and legs, pink cheeks and large blue eyes. He doesn’t look like a basketball player at all._

_“Hi, I am Will Solace from Apollo cabin,” he says, extending his hand for me to shake. “What is your name?”_

_I shake his hand. “I am Nico di Angelo. I don’t know who my godly parent is.”_

_He sits down next to me. “Oh, I see. You are staying in the Hermes cabin, then?”_

_I nod. Soon, we are talking like best friends. I try to teach him Mythomagic, but he is not able to understand it. So, we start to talk about the camp and our favorite food. _

_After sometime, he gets up and pulls me to my feet. “Come, I will show you around.”_

_But then, some four to five large boys are walking in our direction. Oh no, they look like bullies. I start to stuff my cards in my pockets._

_The biggest boy towers over me and tries to snatch the cards from my hand. “Give me those cards, kid.”_

_I refuse. Will pushes me out of the way to get in between. He is two feet shorter than him, but he is not frightened. “Nico won’t give his cards to you. Now, get out of the way. We are going somewhere.”_

_The big bad boy doesn’t wait. He punches Will in the nose and he falls down, his nose bleeding. I am shaking with rage. No one is hurting my friend. I stand up to my full height to shout at his face. But sadly, I am also much shorter than the bully. _

_Suddenly, strange patterns start to form on the ground below my feet. What is happening? I panic and fall down. The big boy is going to hit me and snatch away my cards. But then, I hear two boys running towards us, shouting at the bad camper and threatening him. The group glares at us and leaves. _

_Will has started to cry. One of the boys, Alex from before, is consoling him. The other boy is checking me for any injuries. Finally, they take us to the Apollo cabin. They feed me some square candy, which they call ambrosia. _

Will was saying, “Roger was practicing in the archery range and just because, he was the only one here when you left, doesn’t mean that he has to be the one who stole your papers, Brian.”

Annabeth nodded and looked up at her half-sibling. “Yeah, Will is right. One of the cleaning harpies might have taken them, or the papers might have just flown away. Did you ask the cloud nymphs, Mellie or Tracey?”

Brian looked around, clearly uncomfortable by all the eyes on him and the fact that the fight was not going his way. Annabeth shooed him away to go and ask the harpies and cloud nymphs before getting into a brawl with another cabin. He glared at Will and ran off in the other direction.

The crowd started to disperse when they realized that the fight had got dissolved. Annabeth turned to us. “I am sorry, Will. And Roger, you too. I will let you know when we get back his documents.”

Will smiled. “Sure, Annabeth. Any time. Come on guys, let’s go.”

Later, I shared with him the memory I had recalled. He was really pleased that I finally remembered him as my old and probably, only friend from my happier days at the camp, when my sister was still around. Even though she had joined the Hunters of Artemis, at least she had been alive then.

“Gods of Olympus, Will! You have changed so much over these years.”

“Yeah, well, I was eleven, then.”

“But you looked seven. And you were so short and cute and fluffy back then.”

He snorted. “And how about now?”

“Now_..._” _You have become hotter._ But I didn’t say that out loud. I made a face of distaste. “Now, all your baby fat got stretched into uselessly lanky limbs.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Ha-ha, very funny. You are only jealous that you didn’t grow as tall as me.”

I spread my hands in a _whatever_ gesture. “But I don’t remember meeting Alex, the other day. He is your half-brother, right?”

He hesitated and looked ahead. His eyes got a distant faraway look. “Yeah, Alex Ryder. He – he was my older brother. He should have become senior counselor after Michael. But Alex died in the battle with Kronos. A hellhound grabbed him and pulled him away.” He put his face in his hands and shuddered. “I found his body later, half shredded...half eaten.”

I had not expected that. I tried to imagine what he told me and decided against it. _It was horrible to imagine. How would it have been to see firsthand? I could only pray that Alex Ryder had gone to Elysium after his death. _

“And the other guy? Don’t tell me...”

Will nodded and smiled sadly. “What else is new for a demigod? But, yes, the other guy was Lee Fletcher...he was our cabin counselor, then.”

_So, three head counselors had died before him. _He had been suddenly shoved into the head counselor position, that too in the middle of a war and forced to take care of a bunch of younger kids.

A feeling of fierce protectiveness crept into my heart. I wanted to take care of him, the same way he takes care of everyone around him. I wondered if below his calm facade, he was actually broken, just like me.

He looked at me, a soft look in his eyes. “That day, I realized that I was _after all _similar to my father in some important ways.”

“Why? Did you start spouting out haikus after the Ares kid broke your nose?”

He grinned. “No, that is not it. Come on, anyways, let’s go and see what Kayla and Austin are doing.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Will just having a 'guys' day out' while Sherman and Miranda are on their own date. *silent giggling*

I was bored.

It was the biweekly head counselors’ meeting. I was sandwiched as usual, between Will Solace and Sherman Yang around the Ping-Pong table. Every time, the meeting would go something like this: Chiron addresses us first. Then, each cabin puts forward their issues and everyone discusses to arrive at some solution.

For me, I usually pass. I had no issues. Even if I had, I could always pop up some of my skeleton or ghost buddies to fix it. For instance, I got a window carved into my cabin the other day. I was thanking the undead builders for their efforts, when a couple of Aphrodite girls passed by. The poor girls were so terrified that one fainted on the spot and the other took to her heels as fast as she could. I requested the undead builders to carry the unconscious girl to the infirmary. So, I guess it was _everyone_ who had a problem with me.

That day, I was going through the many layers of zoning out. At first, I could faintly make out Chiron’s and other campers’ faces but their voices seemed to travel through cotton wool. Then, I could hear only Will’s and Sherman’s voices but all the faces had disappeared and I was in the middle of nowhere. Finally, I had a complete change of scenery. I was remembering the last conversation with Hazel before she left for New Rome with Frank and Reyna.

I was tipping my chair backward when I jumped out of my daydream. Will was tapping my hand and saying, “—and Nico too.”

I almost fell backwards. “And Nico too...what?”

Will turned to look at me. “You will come with us, right?”

All the campers plus Chiron were looking intently at me. I glanced at Will, asking a silent question. _Where?_

A silent conversation passed between us that went something like this.

_You zoned out during the meeting, eh? Giggle, giggle._

_Stop giggling. Tell me what’s going on._

_Ah, nothing really important. Just say yes to come with me. Trust me, you won’t regret it._

_Trust you?! Over my dead body, Will._

_Ha-ha, I love you too. So, then, I take it as a yes?_

_I said NO. I am not going anywhere with you._

_You are coming, Nico. And that is not a question._

Final part of our conversation was a battle of death glares. Of course, Will is better at giving dirty looks than me and, I lost. I took a deep breath while he turned to Chiron. “Nico has agreed to come. So Sherman, Miranda, Nico and I in one car. Plus Argus?”

Chiron scratched the back of his head. He was looking at Will appreciatively at how he got me to agree by sheer telepathy. Perhaps, if there is a need for diplomatic negotiations with any soundless gods in the future, he would recommend Will as the first candidate. “Yes, Argus will go with you four.”

Malcolm raised his hand. “And what about the three of us? Will you be coming with us?”

Chiron nodded. “So, everyone, get ready. We will meet up back here within an hour and leave for our respective missions.”

And I was left gaping as everyone rose to leave.

“What mission is Chiron talking about? Seriously, where are we going, Will?”

The guy in question was very busy, jotting down on his writing pad and running about in the infirmary. His half siblings kept coming up to him and telling him what I took to be the names of various medicines. He scratched his head with his pencil. “Look, it is nothing. Chiron is saying ‘missions’ as if it is some sort of a formal quest...but, it is more like a shopping trip. All the senior counselors are going for refilling our stock of mortal supplies. My problem was that Sherman and Miranda are accompanying me.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “I don’t see the..._problem_?”

Will sighed as if in exasperation and turned around to check his list of medical supplies again. “They are dating, Nico. Well, not officially. They are in the stage where everyone knows they like each other. Heck, I think even they know that they like each other. It is like they are waiting to see who asks the other out first. I didn’t want to be a third wheel, so I dragged you in as a fourth wheel.”

I rolled my eyes at what he said. He smiled and patted my shoulder. _I hate him. Why does he have to be this tall? _“Hey, Nico. It would be fun. Let those two have their date. I would be done with purchasing the supplies within sometime. After that, we could have a guys’ day out. Didn’t you say you needed a new jacket now that winter is fast approaching?”

“Fine. It isn’t like I have a choice anyway, do I?”

He smiled again, which didn’t exactly answer my question. I hated that his smile was cute as well.

Will was a true child of Apollo. Wherever he went, girls turned to stare at him wide-eyed as if their favorite celebrity crush were visiting the place. However, he was oblivious to all the attention he was getting. Or probably, used to it. That didn’t seem likely. The boy really didn’t know that he was _that_ attractive, even in a simple blue shirt and faded jeans.

I decided to buy a bomber jacket to replace my old aviator jacket. It was my only memory of Bianca and I hated to part ways with it. But after my fight with Lycaon, it was shredded so badly that she would probably come back from dead to roll it up and throw it in the trashcan.

Will came up to me with a shirt with the Ramones band logo on it. “How is this one, Nico?”

“Yeah, good. You are gonna buy it?”

He tossed it in my basket. “No, this one is for you. A black shirt but with something other than your usual skeleton designs. Those are really boring.”

I started to protest. But he had already moved to the jeans rack. I watched as one of the store attendants started to brush her shoulders with his, on the pretext of helping him out. I felt a burning feeling in my throat but I gulped it down. _Will is only a friend. I don’t want to pull another Percy this time. _

I focused my attention back to the black t-shirts hanging in front of me. After the battle with Gaea, I had wanted to go out for some apparel shopping but kept putting it off. As a spare shirt, I had only the one I had bought from the Barrachina souvenir shop. Plus, to make matters worse, Coach Hedge had a matching one which he flaunted around at the camp. 

Presently, I happened to look in Will’s direction. The attendant seemed to be in an animated conversation with him. He was nodding politely toward her, but his eyes were frantically screaming ‘HELP!’ in my direction.

I walked up to check what was going on. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. “Ah, sorry, miss. But I am with him.”

The girl glanced at me with a sour expression. “Oh, I see.”

For a moment, something passed in her blue eyes. They seemed to scan over me and come to rest on my sword. Then, her eyes returned to normal and she nodded, smiled and left.

We watched as the girl disappeared round the corner.

I looked at Will. “What’s going on?”

He took my basket from my hand. “Well, I am not really interested in girls. But even to me, she seemed a bit..._off._”

I guessed what he was trying to say. I lowered my voice. “You mean to say...what, what is _she_?”

He had started to walk hastily towards the cash counter. “I don’t know. I don’t want to know. Let’s get out of here before she—they, whatever, come for us.”

“Don’t worry, Solace.” I patted his arm. “Whatever it is, they won’t stand a chance against Stygian Iron.”

“Yeah, but we can’t fight here without drawing attention to ourselves. The place is packed with mortals.”

He put the stuff we were buying on the counter. We glanced around warily as the cashier started to scan the tags on the clothes. The cashier lady smiled politely. “Are you guys scared that there would be gunmen in the store? Don’t worry; we have security personnel at our call and cameras everywhere. The place is as safe as it could be.”

_Oh, my dear mortal lady, you have no idea. _But, out loud I said, “Sorry, ma’am, it is not like that. We are in a bit of a hurry, so could you please...?”

“Oh, yes...just a moment.” She looked at her computer screen. “Uh, it would be fifty dollars.”

Through the corner of my eyes, I saw the attendant standing in one of the aisles. But she was not alone now. There were three of them, watching and waiting. As we exited the store, they started to follow us. Nobody gave them a second glance about them leaving the store, unattended, that too at peak business time.

We were half-walking and half-running among the huge crowds of people standing around in the corridor. I wished my sword could work the same way among them as it did for zombie crowds. Will nudged my shoulder and pointed to his right. “There. Let’s go by the escalator.”

Okay, I hate escalators. I try to practically avoid them whenever I go to malls. Say what you want, but I don’t want to go up and down by a stairs that never stands still and my leg could get stuck in it anytime. “How about no? What if I just use the shadows of these people and shadow-travel us to Argus?”

But Will had already jumped on to one of the steps. Cursing aloud, I stepped out cautiously on one of the moving steps. Thankfully, it didn’t shove me inside its moving railings. He was three moving steps ahead of me. Unfortunately, the three store attendants were also three moving steps behind me. The moment we stepped down on solid ground, we dashed through the crowd.

Sherman and Miranda were at the ice-cream parlor, laughing together at whatever they found funny in the menu. They half rose from their seats when we arrived there, panting and gasping, “Sher-man...trouble, man. We gotta go...now.”

Demigods have the natural ability to smell out danger instinctively. The two of them didn’t even protest that they had been robbed off their date evening. They immediately rose to pay their bills. But we were too late.

The three girls were standing at the doorway, a dazed expression on their faces as though they were sleep-walking. “Whoa! Are those the ones?” Sherman asked, drawing out his bronze dagger.

Miranda pushed his hands down. “We can’t fight here, Sherman. The place is full of mortals. We will only get into trouble.”

“And also, it seems like their bodies have been possessed. We can’t harm the mortals.”

The three girls started inching toward us slowly. “Well, do you guys have any ideas? What do we do?”

I glanced at the table by which we were standing. “Okay, quick, crouch down under the table. I will shadow travel us out of here.”

I concentrated, imagining the inside of the car we drove here in. I heard a thud and a shriek, but by then the four of us had already vanished in the shadows

...and ended up falling in a heap of limbs in the car’s back seat. I groaned from below the three of them. “Ow, ow, guys, you are too... Oh gods, I think I just broke my spine.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanatos bowed his head. “Don’t worry, sire. Nico is making a lot of friends now. He told me that he went to the mall with his best friend, Will Solace.”  
I stared at him, dumbfounded. Wait, when did I tell him about Will? My father and Persephone perked up at this.  
“He went to the mall with someone?” asked Persephone.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Thanatos would be that innocent kid in every class who goes directly to the crush and spills the beans. And then, gives a sweet toothy grin from a distance like Mission Accomplished that you won't know whether to hug him or break his head.

It was somewhere around the last week of November that my father sent me the message that I was required in the Underworld for some important work. I found Percy’s hellhound, Mrs. O’ Leary, waiting for me outside the combat arena. If it had been some months back, I would have gone right away with her, no one the wiser. But now, it was different.

After speaking to Chiron, I slowly walked to the Apollo cabin, not sure how to break this news to Will. He had been quite pleased about the improvement in my health over the past few weeks. That is to say, I had gone from being _sickly pale_ to _just pale_. I prepared myself for a long lecture because for him, my going to Hades and going through Tartarus was one and the same thing.

But he took the news silently. After a beat, he asked, “When will you be returning?”

I twisted my silver ring. “I am not sure. My dad and Thanatos have been really busy over the past few months, you know, with what happened with the Doors of Death and all. All of a sudden, there are so many deaths occurring now, that they are seriously short of staff. I need to provide them with all the help I can.”

We had walked to the top of Half Blood Hill, by then. “You would be leaving now?”

I nodded and looked up at him. “Yes, right away. I can’t keep Mrs. O’ Leary around here for long.”

Before I could say anything further, he hugged me fiercely and murmured in my ear. “Be careful, Death Boy.”

Look, I really hate it when people touch me without my permission. However, when Will hugged me, a flood of warmth rushed through every vein of my body. I wanted to hug him back but my hands hung just uselessly by my side. As quickly he had hugged me, he moved away. His hand was still holding mine, but he did not meet my eyes.

“Come back to me in one piece, okay?” he muttered, drawing random lines in the sand with his foot. I was too full of emotion to trust my brain to form long sentences but I managed a small “Yeah”.

He nodded as if that was enough. He turned and sprinted down the hill, furiously rubbing his face. _Was he crying? _I wanted to run after him to make sure he was okay. But it was too late. Mrs. O’Leary had already shadow traveled and I found myself near the gates of my father’s palace.

I was surprised when I realized I actually missed the camp during my stay at Hades. Or maybe, it was just Will. _He is gonna get a big head now._ But I can't deny the fact. All the company I got in Hades was from the souls living in Elysium, my dad, the God of Death, Thanatos and occasionally, my stepmother Persephone, who kind of tolerates me now.

Thanatos is a really great guy if you get to know him personally. The only reason people are scared of him is because he reaps the souls of the living and guides them into the Underworld. He is actually a much kinder and cooler version of Eros, who I absolutely abhor.

After all our work had been finished, we gathered for a small meeting in my father’s court. As usual, my dad looked at me with his cold black eyes. When I was younger, I used to be scared of them and do whatever I could to please him. But now, I know his eyes are like that; the poor guy can’t help it.

He was sitting on his throne with Queen Persephone by his side. “So, Nico,” he said. “Are you happy staying at Camp Half-Blood now?”

Thanatos bowed his head. “Don’t worry, sire. Nico is making a lot of friends now. He told me he went to the mall with his best friend, Will Solace.”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. _Wait, when did I tell him about Will?_ My father and Persephone perked up at this.

“He went to the mall with someone?” asked Persephone.

Thanatos nodded. “Yes, my Lady, with Will Solace. Nico told me that this friend of his, Will, is a son of Apollo.”

Before they could pry some more, I nudged him. “Thanatos, what-when—um, no...how—how do you know about Will?”

“You told me about him, Nico.”

“I told you? What did I tell you?”

“Oh, many things...like how he taught you to play basketball, that you sit with him for lunch daily, how you went to the mall with him and he chose out some clothes for you that you seem to like a lot—”

“Wait, wait...” I stopped him before he could reveal some more embarrassing details. I hoped my cheeks had not become a shade of bright magenta. The other two gods were looking at me curiously. “When did I tell you all this?”

His huge wings absentmindedly fluttered behind him. “When you were helping me out in the paperwork of the souls I had collected from Venice...Oh, by the way, I couldn’t thank you properly then, but I really appreciate your help. Thank you very much.”

He bowed low to me as well. I assured him it was not that of a big deal. He seemed very pleased with himself, but it was all I could do to stop myself from taking my sword and bonking his head with the hilt. I couldn’t face my father now, though I guessed he would already have known about me. I swore to myself that I would never tell Thanatos anything from my life again.

Surprisingly, my dad smiled and patted my back. “I am glad, my son, that you have finally found a friend and are living happily in the mortal world. I used to be so worried you were constantly among the souls in the Fields of Asphodel at the mere age of ten. But now, you should try and live more like a teenager.”

Writing eulogies of dead people with the God of Death Himself didn’t seem like something normal teenagers were asked to do, but I let it pass. I bowed slightly.

Persephone combed my hair with her fingers. I almost flinched at her sudden act of affection. “You would be leaving now, I guess?”

I bowed. “Yes, My Lady.”

“With the hellhound friend of yours?”

“I think I will shadow travel back.”

“Be careful, Nico.” My father grunted. “Shadow travel always makes you dead tired.” He smirked at his own pun.

Persephone turned to me, her eyes twinkling humorously. “Oh, don’t worry about that, Husband. His friend will help him out with that if that’s the case. After all, he must be a healer being the son of Apollo and all. Am I right, Nico?”

I smiled nervously. “Yes, My Lady.”

She grinned as though she knew some big secret I didn’t and vanished in a swirl of flowers. I bid Thanatos and my father goodbye and left for the living world.

I had no idea which day of which month it was. _Hope hundred years have not passed since I was in there. _I stepped into the shadow of the nearest wall and imagined my destination as Camp Half Blood, hoping I reach correctly and not transport myself into some Cyclops den again.

Thankfully, when I stepped out of the shadow, it was below the very familiar Athena Parthenos statue. I stumbled a bit but I didn’t pass out immediately.

I started walking down the hill and was distracted by the absence of activity down. _Where is everyone?_ By the position of the winter sun in the sky, I guessed it was around four in the evening.

I walked to the cabins and spotted Cecil outside his cabin, stretching out his arms above his head. He smiled on seeing me. “Hey, man, Nico! Where have you been? You were gone for so long we all thought you ran away again.”

I snorted. “Ha-ha...very funny, Cecil. But seriously, how long was I gone? And where is everyone? I can’t find anyone outside.”

Cecil dropped his arms and walked across the green to me. “Um, I don’t know exactly about the how-long-you-were-gone part, but today is December 18th if it helps.”

I mentally calculated the days. _Gods of Olympus...I was gone for more than two weeks. _Cecil cleared his throat. “And as for where is everyone, were you looking for someone in particular?”

“Um, not really, I mean there are campers outside in the armory and the forge. But today...” I waved my hand towards the empty forges. “And even Chiron...I didn’t see him near the Big House.”

“Yeah, Chiron and Argus are gone for some emergency. Not sure what exactly that was...didn’t pay attention.” He gave me a lopsided smile. “But that was why he asked us all to stay inside the cabins and not to roam about much. Ah, it is seriously boring today. I slept for half the day and now, look, there is no one around for even a practical joke. You wanna come in? I stole some things from the shed.”

My eyes glanced towards Cabin 7. Cecil smirked and patted my shoulder. “I asked you, dude, if you were looking for someone.”

I made some unintelligible remarks like, “Huh, what?”

He pointed towards the Apollo Cabin. “Will is not there if you are asking.”

“I did not—”

“Yeah, well, he is in the infirmary.”

I rolled my eyes. “That is typical. He is _always _in the infirmary.”

“Yeah, but this is different. He is there as a patient. He was down with fever for the past two days. Kayla was taking care of him.”

“But he never falls sick.”

“Well, this is an exception then. Maybe seeing your face will make him feel better.”

I rolled my eyes again but couldn’t form any snarky comments immediately. Cecil waved me goodbye and trudged towards the camp store, no doubt to steal some more useless items for his personal treasury.

Kayla was not there. Will was lying on his side as I entered the infirmary room. He sneezed loudly, sniffled and cursed under his breath. I had to smile. Even in his sickness, he couldn’t keep his tongue in control. I wondered if I should wash up and then visit him. Underworld was not a healthy place. Hades only knows what kind of diseases the ghosts in the Fields of Asphodel might have died of. 

I was just about to turn and go to my cabin, when Will turned on his side in my direction.

“Oh, Nico! You are here!” His face beamed in excitement on seeing me but his voice had become so hoarse that I winced in sympathy.

I sat down in the chair beside him and studied him closely. His blue irises were completely drowning in tears and rimmed with red capillaries. Presently, he sneezed again and squeezed his nose with a hand towel, muttering under his breath.

I must have looked really worried when he looked up at me again. He started to laugh and then broke into a fit of cough. “Hey, don’t look so gloomy. I will be alright by tomorrow.”

“But how? You never fall sick.”

“Yeah, I know right. It was an accident. Chiron and I were discussing some new healing methods. Later on, in the infirmary – oh, that’s here – um, I was helping Kayla to summon some sickness on our subject so that we could experiment on it with the new techniques. Well, that backfired on me.”

I smirked. “So, in a nutshell, you were teaching Kayla to raise a plague and you became the first victim?”

“Hey, it is not like that.” He pouted in exasperation. “It is one of the ways to—” I chose that exact moment to burst into laughter. _His face expressions are adorable. _

Will rolled his eyes. “Ah, it is useless explaining this to people like you.”

“No, I understand. But isn’t this very dangerous? What if your new medicines didn’t work? Why didn’t you try ambrosia or nectar?”

He sighed deeply. A moment later, I realized how stupid my question had been. _Of course, they would have tried ambrosia and nectar. _I was very much familiar with Will now that I could easily guess his answer from his expression. _Who is advising who now, huh? _But he said nothing like that. That was one thing I really liked about him. However stupid someone’s question or idea might be (and whatever he might think in his mind), he would never scorn them out loud or make them feel dumb.

“Ambrosia and nectar is never enough for all kinds of diseases, Nico. In such cases, the responsibility falls upon us, healers, to find the solution. At the time, we can’t be standing around helplessly, watching everyone die. So—”

“So, try and find the solutions beforehand. It's very noble of you, Will.”

He snorted and rubbed his forehead with two fingers in a circular motion. “It's my _duty_, actually. But right now, I am regretting my carelessness. Ah, my head...”

I raised my palm to his forehead to check for fever. His forehead was cooler than my hand. He took my hand from his forehead and patted it. As usual, this sent a shiver down my spine. I have never been able to understand the reason for that. Some sort of a healing touch, perhaps?

“I am not running a fever now, Nico.” He smiled at me, eyes twinkling. “It’s just this stupid headache. And the sneezing and running nose. Oh, hey, see...I think my sneezing has stopped now that I have met you.”

I scowled, pulling my hand free. “That is _really _gross, Solace.”

“Jeez, Nico, I didn’t mean it like that— huh?” Someone cleared their throat behind us. I turned to find Kayla at the open door with a tray of medicines.

“Oh, should I leave?” She asked, her eyes darting between Will and me.

I stood up from my chair. “Um, no. I was about to leave anyways. I need to sleep for some time. I will visit some— What happened?”

Kayla had started to laugh. “No, no, it’s nothing. My stupid brother was nodding his head and shooing me off when I asked if I should leave.”

I turned to look at him. His eyes were rimmed with red, but there was no less of mischief in them. “What is wrong with that, eh? I am stuck with you daily. I am seeing Nico _today_, after a gap of 18 days and eight hours approximately.”

I raised my brow at that. “Wow, you are correct up to the minutes mark, Solace.”

“It is a doctor’s duty, di Angelo.” He blushed lightly. “We need to be always precise with the time.”

Kayla turned to me. “Get going, Nico. My brother is _seriously_ hopeless. His fever has made him even more so. See you for dinner.”

I waved my goodbyes to them and left them bickering over the color of the medicine Kayla was making her brother to drink. I was probably grinning like a fool as I walked towards my cabin.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant and failed miserably. “I suppose. As far as you don’t go about telling about this to everyone. I- I am not ready to-”  
“Advertise to everyone that we are boyfriends now? Oh, come on, Nico. If that is the case, that is exactly the very first thing I am gonna do.”  
As he dragged a loudly protesting me down the hill, I randomly wondered if Thalia keeps a track of what goes on near her tree. Hopefully not.

I had never imagined that a day would come in my life when I would be accepted and loved by someone. _Unconditionally._

Whenever people looked at me, they saw only a scary, pale skinned kid who could melt into the shadows, summon ghosts or pull bones straight from the ground. I was fine by that. I had lived my entire life building up walls around me so that no one could break through it and find out how much of a terrified guy I actually am.

Hazel shares the same burden as me, being the child of Pluto and not belonging to the modern world. Sometimes, I blame myself for bringing her back into the living world when she died so many years ago. The reason I told her was she could try for Elysium if given a second chance. Now, I know she would. She is one of the chosen Seven, after all. And perhaps, it was the prophecy that made me lead her out of the Underworld so to bring the Seven together.

I don’t know.

To be honest, I was selfish. When the Doors of Death were opened by Gaea and her evil forces, I had a defiant plan of bringing back Bianca. When I found out she had already chosen rebirth, I was completely heartbroken. As a consolation, I forced Hazel to choose to come with me, to endure what I already knew she would have to.

As I said, it was selfish of me. Now, I am glad she has adjusted to the modern world much better than I ever could.

For me, however, it was never so. I just could not adjust to the modern world or to Camp Half Blood. At first, it had been because of Bianca’s death. I hated Percy for not protecting her when he had promised he would. I didn’t want to stay at the same place as he was. He was a constant reminder of all the misfortunes that happened in my life. My sister had left me the very moment I figured out that I was the son of Hades. I was utterly confused about what I was going to do next. I was alone and lost.

Somehow, I got over it all and tried to make peace with my inner demons. But when I realized that I was attracted to Percy in a way a guy could not imagine of being, I was horrified. Even more so, when I started to become jealous of Annabeth; someone who had never ill-treated me unlike others. I decided to run away for a second time, never to return.

As Fates would have it, I met Percy again, in a place and a situation I had never expected him to be. I felt wrong about feeling pleased that he had lost all his memories. I thought I could have him for myself. I only needed to win his favor. _Once again_, that is. The last time I had tried to do so was when I took him to the Styx for earning the Achilles’ heel. The idea had gone so horribly wrong that I lost what little of trust he had for me.

In Camp Jupiter, only I knew him. He didn’t remember me at all. It felt like a god-given second chance to me. I wanted to prove myself to him. And that was the reason why I decided to go through Tartarus. I thought that I could close the Doors of Death, all by myself. And that was how I lost whatever remained of my sanity. 

That afternoon, I was telling my story to Will while we lazed around under Thalia’s pine tree. Jason came to know about my love for Percy when I was bullied for Cupid’s own pleasure. Piper figured it out because she is the daughter of Aphrodite? I told Percy myself before he could get to know from someone else.

But, Will? We had grown so much closer over the months that I didn’t want to keep any secrets from him. I had decided to run away for a third time from the Camp after it had been saved. It was only because of him that I stayed. And, it was only for him that I am still staying. If he moved to his home for winter or decide not to return to the Camp anytime, I would just go away as well.

He was silent for a long time after I finished. _W__ould he hate me for what I told him? Avoid me from now on? Break off his friendship with me for fear I might fall in love with him too? _Honestly, I had no idea how I felt about him. I actually _liked_ him. _A lot. _But, since my heart had already been broken once, I didn’t want to repeat my mistakes. Or you could say, I had matured after all my experiences. In a nutshell, if he had a girlfriend, I would be genuinely happy for him and continue to be his good friend if he would have me.

I mentally prepared myself for whatever he was about to say. But what he did next, I did not expect. He hugged me tightly.

“What are you doing, Will?” I gasped.

“Why would you think that this is even a reason for you to run away from the camp? Dude, you _really_ do overthink things so much.”

I was flabbergasted. “You are not shocked or surprised?”

“By the fact that you had a crush on Percy? Nope. I mean, he is a hero...a celebrity for the camp. I am sure more than three-fourth of the kids here have a crush on him.”

“But it was not a celebrity crush. I actually_ fell_ in love with the guy.”

Will stared me in the eye. “Yeah, so?”

I wondered whether he understood what I was trying to tell him. As I was pondering over how to explain the matter to him, he continued, “I too had a crush on a guy once. The actual-falling-in-love kind of crush as you say.”

Somewhere inside my stomach, I felt a low rumbling like the start of a cold engine. Or it was just me being hungry. “Your first crush?”

“Um, no. My first crush was my third grade English teacher. But it's possible I fell for her because of chocolates. She used to bring us homemade chocolates. They were really tasty. Ah, but she was really beautiful with dark hair and pretty eyes.”

I tried to process what he said. _That means..._“Oh, and what about the guy?”

“He is from the camp.”

“The camp? _This _camp? Like our camp...?”

He nodded. My curiosity got the better of me. “Who? Percy?”

“No, not Percy. He is not my type.” He looked at me, his eyes dancing with amusement. “Curious much, huh?”

I blushed deeply. “Ah, sorry, I did not mean to pry.”

He was closer to me than I had thought. _Was he leaning towards me? _“You, dummy, you. I had a crush on _you_.”

My heart skipped a beat. _I had to be dreaming. _“You had a crush on _me?_ How can you have a crush on me? I am scary and can summon ghosts and skeletons and..._”_

I could hardly form a single coherent word after that. I was staring at his Apolloesque perfect features; his almond shaped eyes which seemed to smile by themselves even when they are squeezed shut, his soft angled cheeks sprinkled with freckles which are visible only if you look closely... and that was when I realized that I was actually _that_ close to him. And it was only after a few seconds I realized that I was not able to speak because he was kissing me.

Of course, I was hopelessly numb when this was happening.

I do not remember much after that. My brain went into an instant panic mode and started to show me a replay of all the activities that had happened in my life. Why? Well, I don’t know. Probably, it wanted to say: _Hey, Nico, it isn’t my fault that you are locked in a kiss with him. See, I have tried to inflict as much misery on you as I could, so that you would never get into a situation like this. _

Half of my visions made no sense. I was going through the sickening desolate pit of Tartarus again. But this time, I wasn’t as depressed like the last time. In fact, my heart was bursting with so much energy that the whole journey felt like a cake walk. I was skipping through the Phlegethon River. I was throwing confetti at the empousae who tried to attack me. I even waltzed with the goddess of Misery and sent her hurtling right through the Chaos.

I was jerked back to the living world with someone violently shaking my shoulders. _Will? _He was shouting something at me. His voice seemed to be travelling via layers and layers of bubble wrap. “Nico, Nico...what's wrong? Can you not hear me?”

I cleared my throat to check for my voice and made some noise like “Uh-huh...” Will patted my cheek. “What happened? You got me worried. You kind of zoned out.”

All my senses started to work properly again. We were below Thalia’s tree as before. I shook my head twice and tried to focus on his face. “What-what happened?”

Then, in a sudden rush, everything came back to me and my cheeks felt hot. “Oh.” I bit my lower lip. _Oh. _

Judging from Will’s wide eyes and red face, I realized he was just as embarrassed and disoriented as I felt. He gulped hard. “Nico, I really didn’t mean to—I don’t know what got into me...I am so sorry. I only wanted to be your friend, just that...I don’t know why-why I did that. Really, I will never pull anything like this again. I swear on the River Styx...”

I grabbed hold of his throat in a chokehold and smothered him before he could complete his oath. “Don’t say that, Solace.” I breathed into his ear. “Just don’t complete the stupid oath.”

He stilled a bit as if in shock and gave a little nod. I released him. He held his throat and retched as he recovered. Then, he looked up at me. “What do you mean? You mean to say that you are fine with—um, what I did?”

I wasn't listening to what he was saying. I had started to scream internally. _Will kissed me? Will kissed me! Am I dreaming? He likes me? Gods of Olympus, is this really happening? _

I managed a small nod. I coughed and cleared my throat. _Where the Hades is my voice when I need it? _“I-I don’t mind.”

He started to smile, and then doubled over laughing. I was confused. _Is this all a trick? _“What? Why are you laughing?”

He hugged me again. “Because I love you so much, Death Boy. And had I known that you like guys as well, I would have proposed to you so long back. Maybe, right after the Battle of Manhattan. You looked so cool, singlehandedly leading the undead armies that—”

A huge lump of something like pain melted in my heart and escaped as a little giggle from my lips. “Wow, who is having celebrity crushes on who, now, eh?”

He blushed and got to his feet. “I am not answering that one. So, does this mean you and me are dating from today?”

“I suppose.” I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant and failed miserably. “As far as you don’t go about telling about this to everyone. I-I am not ready to—”

“Advertise to everyone that we are _boyfriends _now_? _Oh, come on, Nico. If that is the case, that is exactly the very first thing I am gonna do.”

As he dragged a loudly protesting me down the hill, I randomly wondered if Thalia keeps a track of what goes on near her tree. _Hopefully not_.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As we strolled off bickering, I suddenly realized that he had called me his boyfriend, special guy and significant other all at once. That too before his dad.  
My boyfriend, I thought giddily. No, he is my significant annoyance. That suits him better.

As it turned out, the fact that we had started dating surprised literally no one. Will had a forever crush on me which I still find a bit difficult to digest. And, apparently, he had been quite vocal about it for Kayla and Austin just rolled their eyes and retorted, “About time!”

They then proceeded to sit me down and tell me all sorts of embarrassing stories about their cabin counselor. The guy in question had been tied down to his bunk, with a sock stuffed in his mouth (gross!) so that he would not disrupt their story telling. I have all the stories stowed away in my mind for blackmailing purpose if Will ever dreamt of overstepping his boundaries. I feel like he often doesn’t take me as seriously as he should, considering I am the son of Hades and the Ghost King. Secretly though, I would rather he doesn’t.

The next day, Cecil and Lou Ellen congratulated us when we joined them for breakfast. “Wow, I can’t believe a son of Apollo took around five months to confess to his crush.”

“Blame it on Nico’s thick skull for that, Lou Ellen. I even went on a double date with him and he has no idea.”

I was dumbfounded. _What is he talking about? _“What double date?”

“Yeah, with Sherman and Miranda.” He smiled sweetly. “You know when you bought your bomber jacket? And we were chased down by possessed store attendants?”

I scratched my forehead in confusion. “That was a double date? You never told me so.”

And cue another collective eye roll from the three of them.

The Aphrodite cabin lost all their bets to the Apollo over the time we took to become a couple. Valentina and her gang had wagered two months. Kayla and Austin were closer with five months.

As we watched them fight among themselves, I sat down next to Will. “Kayla and Austin know us really well, don’t they? But why were so many Aphrodite girls betting on us?”

“Ah, you probably don’t know but you are quite a hottie among them, Nico.” Will laughed and tried to pinch my cheek but I swatted away his hand. He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a confidential whisper. “Many girls had been waiting to ask you out. I guess I just beat them to it.”

I started to panic within. “You got to be kidding me!”

“Just so you know, even Lou Ellen.”

I turned to stare at him only to find a big, goofy grin on his face. _He is just fooling around,_ I decided but then I remembered how the girl blushed at whatever I said when we were rushing about to disable Octavian’s onagers. I blinked back my jittery feelings. “You are _definitely_ kidding me.”

His grin widened some more. _I hate him, ugh!_

“Chiron, I wish to talk to you regarding Nico’s health.”

Will and I stood on the porch of the Big House. Presently, Chiron rolled out in his wheelchair, wearing a fuzzy brown sweater with a hoof print on it. I nudged Will’s arm. _He seems to be in a good mood. Probably he will agree to whatever we say. _

He straightened to a comic professional pose and started, “Chiron, as you had advised, I have been keeping Nico under close supervision. His health has distinctly improved over the past few months. He is eating a balanced diet and drinking a lot of fluids to keep his body well hydrated. There is a lot of improvement in him so far.”

Chiron smiled at us. “That’s such good news, Will. I am glad to hear that you are doing so well, my boy.”

We waited. He glanced up at us. “Oh, is there anything else?”

“Well, yes. Actually...” Will cleared his throat. “Nico gets quite lonely during dinner time. So he always tends to skip his dinner. I was wondering if you could make an exception and let him sit at our table. We can keep an eye on him and make him eat his food if he tries to run away.”

I put up as pitiable a face as I could. I didn’t have to try too hard for that. My eyes were like broken glass, anyways.

However, Chiron didn’t agree to that. He told us that the traditions were there for a reason. The Gods won’t be happy if we broke the rules. “Moreover, if I allow you two to do that, soon I will have a queue of all the other demigods with a list of their own demands. I cannot exempt you from the rules of the Camp without some strong reasons.”

_Strong reasons to be exempted from the camp rules? Hmm. _I looked at Will and realized he was thinking the same. _Plan B, then. _“Okay, Chiron. We understand.”

That night, we put our plan into action. I put some salad on my plate and sat down at my table. Three serving dryads were standing near Hestia’s hearth. I concentrated and sent my powers to dig deep into the ground. The plan was working better than I had imagined. Soon, half a dozen zombies crawled their way to the surface. Another set of skeletons stumbled about as if they had just woken up from sleep and urgently needed to use the restroom. The poor dryads dropped their plates and took to their heels, shrieking in every direction.

I fell down from my table even as I heard Will’s distant voice. “Holy Hades! Nico’s powers have started to react again. Kayla, quick, get me a bottle of Gatorade!”

And conveniently, I passed out.

When I woke up, I found myself back in the infirmary for the millionth time. I slowly opened my eyes to see Will and Chiron arguing in one corner of the room.

“—that is the only way,” Will was saying. “His violent mood disorders are disruptive to the whole camp.”

Chiron had opened his mouth to say something when he noticed I had regained my consciousness. “Nico, good, you are up. Will and I have been discussing about you. Do you remember anything?”

I shook my head. “What did I do?”

“It is like I said. Whenever he has one of the mood swings, he loses control of his powers and his consciousness as well,” Will said. “You accidentally summoned zombies and skeletons to Hestia’s hearth, Nico. It was a total mayhem. We managed to bring you to the infirmary with great difficulty.”

Chiron heaved a sigh of resignation. For a guy who has been dealing with demigods for over thousand years, I guessed he could easily see through our plans. “Fine, Will. It is going to be your sole responsibility if Nico is going to sit at your table. If either of your godly parents intervenes, you would have to answer to them.”

Will smiled gratefully. “Don’t worry, Chiron. I have prepared a doctor’s note for Nico specifying my observations and diagnosis.”

It was a genuine mistake on my part when I told myself, “Guess all the evil forces – Kronos, the Titans, Gaea and her giants- have been defeated. Finally, I can live in peace at the Camp, just me and Will however long I wish.” This is a mantra every demigod should know. _Never ever think the coming days would be any better. _

For, surely some mishap must have been waiting all along to walk in through the magical borders of the Camp.

This time, calamity struck in the form of disappearing demigods. First, it was Cecil. Since he was from the Hermes cabin, no one paid much attention. Hermes kids tend to sneak around a lot. But then, two more demigods disappeared over a span of three weeks. Ellis Wakefield of Ares cabin and Miranda Gardiner from Demeter cabin.

Sherman was inconsolable. “First, it was my brother. Now, it is my girl. I knew something was wrong when Ellis went missing. I knew he didn’t go on a mission on his own like you all said. Now, Miranda too. What if...? No, no, they are going to be alright. I am not going to think of any what-ifs.”

“And that is exactly what you need to do,” Chiron advised. “You need to be strong for them. And, yes, they are going to be totally alright. Let’s wait, okay? I will send out teams of our resourceful satyrs as well. One way or the other, we will locate them as soon as possible.”

“But why won’t you let me search for her?” Sherman protested. “I'll be able to search faster—”

Chiron cut in before he could continue any further. “No, Sherman. I cannot risk losing any more demigods to whatever has taken the three of them. This is for everyone. Don’t roam about the camp alone. Use the buddy system. And especially, no going off alone on your own outside the camp borders.”

Sherman looked like he wanted to protest some more, but Chiron’s order felt final and nonnegotiable. He seldom gives us orders. When he does, it would always be with good reason. Whatever was happening in the camp was pretty serious and Chiron already knew what. Or at least, he had some idea about it.

As we led a grieving Sherman to his cabin, I glanced at Will. _Who would disappear next? Will it be him? If something happens to him, I don’t know what I might end up doing. I am ready to walk through Tartarus again if I have to. _

At that moment of my distress, I prayed to my father. _Father, you said your children are rarely happy. You wanted me to be an exception. I can be that, Father. You must surely know by now what I am like. So, I am praying only this – I am going to love this boy with all my heart and he must not suffer because of that. _

Of course, I should have known better than praying to any of the gods, including my own father. That evening, our second misfortune stumbled in through the camp borders in the form of Will’s dad Apollo.

The camp was wrapped in an eerie silence. No one knew what to make of the unexpected situation: Apollo becoming completely human. Chiron was silently leaning back in his wheelchair, his eyes closed and eyebrows creased in worry. I walked out of the door into the porch of the Big House to give the poor guy some space.

Presently, I noticed three figures walking in my direction. Apollo, Will and the new demigod Meg McCaffrey. The first thing I noticed about the former god was the thick death aura around him.

“I remember you,” Apollo spoke as soon as they caught up with me. “Is it Nicholas, son of Hades?”

“Nico di Angelo.” I automatically corrected. “So it is true. You’re completely mortal. There’s an aura of death around you—a thick possibility of death.”

“Sounds like a weather forecast,” Meg snorted.

Will climbed up the steps to put a hand on my shoulder. “Nico, we need to have another talk about your people skills.”

“Hey, I am just stating the obvious,” I started to protest. “If this is Apollo and he dies, we’re all in trouble.”

He winced slightly before turning to his dad. “I apologize for my boyfriend.”

My heart stopped for one whole second. I had imagined a hundred different scenarios of meeting his dad one day, but nothing could prepare me for the careless way he threw around the b-word in front of him. “Could you not—”

“Would you prefer _special guy_? Or _significant other_?”

“Significant _annoyance_, in your case,” I grumbled.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, I will get you for that.”

Chiron dipped from under from the door and trotted out to meet Apollo. “Apollo, it’s good you are here. We need to talk about the disappearances.”

It was clear the two ancient immortals or currently mortal had a lot to discuss. Chiron wisely sent us off to inform the other campers about dinner. “In the meantime, no one should roam the camp alone. Use the buddy system.”

“Understood.” Will looked at me with the obvious question I knew he would ask being the absolute dork he was. “Will you be my buddy?”

I tried not to roll my eyes before his dad and Chiron. “You are a dork,” I announced anyways. 

As we strolled off bickering, I realized suddenly that he had called me his boyfriend, special guy and significant other all at once. That too before his dad. _My boyfriend, _I thought giddily. _No, he is my significant annoyance. That suits him better. _

Well, a demigod’s life is always full of misfortunes. Especially, if you are a child of Hades. But I am going to try. At the very least, I am not like before now. I have a reason to live now: for someone who loves me unconditionally, for someone who I am ready to protect with my life. And so, I am going to make it more than 180 days. 180 days and counting...with my _significant annoyance_...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter marks the end of the '180 days of my significant annoyance'. This was a huge undertaking that I feared I might not be able to finish. But, my love for these two dorks, especially Nico, kept me going. I really really loved writing them.

**Author's Note:**

> A big thank you to all my dear readers and especially to those who took some time to comment on each chapter when it was uploaded. I do feel that the initial momentum was a bit lost on my part when I reached the latter part of the story. But, anyways, hope you all enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. To the new readers who might find this story on a later date, please do not hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comment section. 
> 
> Love you all! Happy reading!!


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